Hetalia: In Tune
by Bai-Marionette
Summary: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Some stars are meant to cross. But little did they know, some stars don't cross for a reason. SpaMano AntonioxLovino AU
1. Burns

**In-Tune**

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

**Recommended Listening: **"Something" by Escape the Fate

**.:Chapter One:.**

_Burns_

[Antonio]

"**Chibitalia!**," Dana began to squeal as she tried to submerge the newspaper she had snatched from Antonio promptly after he had gone to retrieve it from the porch.

Her older brother signed as he sat, empty-handed, at his chair and hid his hands in his hands. His long-time and trusted friend, Francis tried to hold back his laughter at Antonio's misery and instead chose to rub small circles into his friend's back.

"The new hit pop duo has more than captured the ears of millions with their original debut hits 'Tell Me Something I Don't Know' and 'I Like It Like That'." Dana finally squealed at the breakfast table and her mother raised her emerald eyes to the ceiling and then snapped, "Hush, niña!"

Dana paid her mother no mind as she continued to read the article, "It can be safely said that the duo has loyal fans all across the world and will continue to remain at the top of every music billboard for a very long time." The young girl began to hyperventilate in her excitement as she held the article close again and then sighed deeply.

Antonio groaned, "What's so great about two guys acting like pure whores in their music videos and singing pointless dance songs?" Dana glared death at her older brother, her mocha eyes dripping with venom as she opened her mouth to defend her favorite artists.

Francis cut in, "Non, Antonio, let the girl dream." Antonio raised his brow at the slightly older blonde male as Dana smiled and sat up straighter in her chair. "Si, listen to your genius friend, Antonio."

Antonio rolled her green eyes and grumbled a "Whatever, they're still a pointless band." Dana slammed her hand down at the table, her eyes furious, as the plates rattled from the table's abuse.

"Why you insolent idiotica…! Romano and Feliciano have more talent then you could ever have!" Her eyes grow darker as she dealt her finishing blow, "At least they didn't ditch their band on their big night because of some stupid and _**hopeless**_ _**crush**_—"

"If it had been me," she snapped, "I would've called him out instead of leaving at the drop of a freaking hat and never giving a word back to them." Dana glared at her older brother even his green eyes became stone and his knuckles turned white in his grip on the table. "It's been years, Antonio. Get over it. It was just some stupid fling. Stop being a baby and so sensitive over it."

She slumped back, crossing her arms, "Sheesh," she said as she picked up her magazine again as she eyed him from over the top. "I would have thought you had slept with that conceited bastardo." She slapped her article onto the table as a red angry flush won over her brother's face. Her brown eyes lit up with shock. "Oh my God!" She pointed, "You did! You did sleep with a guy! Is that why Papa never wants to come by and why he never comes to see yo—"

She didn't get her chance to finish as her mother slapped her youngest child across the mouth. But Dana had already re-opened old wounds. Wounds that had believed, by an angrily trembling Antonio who was mere a few hairs of restraint between him and the sharp bread knife just a few inches across the table, to have been thought to be dormant.

But the damage had already been dealt as his eyes darted to the knife. His mother's eyes pricked as she saw his urge and she tried to not to cry or worse; beat her daughter senseless for her incompetence with the privacy of others.

Even Francis said nothing. The young French boy was unable to think up of a single word to ease his friend's pain. He couldn't think of a single thing to say that excused his father's actions or stopped the barrier in his mind that was breaking.

_Please, por favor, don't let me see his face again, _he thought when he tried to scrunch his eyes tightly in hopes of blocking out the fore coming image and the pain that would follow. _Don't let me see his eyes…_

Antonio's mother wished sadly her husband was home again, not off on some business trip as he kept saying whenever their family gathered together on breaks and Antonio came home, and wished that past events were not the cause of his disgust and detachment with his only and eldest son.

Antonio's eyes finally fell from the knife and his mother let out a silent sign of relief even as she pulled her hand from Dana's mouth. Dana whimpered, "What did I say?" the young girl as she pointed to Antonio. "It's his entire fault! I didn't do anything to him!"

"His stupid crush blew up in his face, not mine," she barked and she swung around in her chair to glare at her brother. He stiffened as he recalled that glare on another face, with mocking green eyes delivering their venom. "_I hate you!_" he had cried as he swung back his leg, "_Leave me alone, you bloody g—"_

"Papa left because of him! Not me, why are getting mad at me, why aren't you getting angry at him for being so stupid to think it would work out in the first place!"

"_You're a stupid fag! Leave me alone!" He had yelled and before Antonio could even react, not only did tears fall from his eyes, but a punch was delivered to his face and he fell backwards. _

_He pushed himself up on his arms, hoping he hadn't heard what he had just heard or that he could just die as the other band members turned around at their other member's argument. _

_His past love and world was seething as he swung back his foot. "I hate you! Get out of my fucking face, you bloody g—"_

_**What had he done wrong…?**_

_His eyes burned as he caught the foot, so it wouldn't hit him, and threw the other to the ground with a sudden yelp as he pulled himself to his own feet and ran away. He ran away, tears falling freely as he kept repeating the same Spanish phrase over and over even as those around him called out his name. He heard his band mates call out for him to come back but that same phrase kept falling from his lips._

"_**Como quieras, yo nunca te dejaré ver mi cara de nuevo ..."**_

"_As you wish, I will never let you see my face again..."_

Antonio was silent for all of few seconds. "Antonio," his mother began as her eyes pleaded for him to remember it wasn't his fault. But her words fell on deaf ears as her eldest son pushed harshly at the table and stood.

Dana finally saw the extent of her inflicted hurtful words and winced, looking down at the rolled up article out of her reach of her hands on the table. She felt the atmosphere and knew she had hurt more deeply than intended. She tried to apologize, "Tony…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

Antonio didn't hear her as he stormed out the back door; headed for his favorite rock a few miles around their summer home's back entrance. Francis frowned and excused himself, calling out her brother's name as he struggled to catch up with her brother.

Dana looked down, as tears pricked her eyes. She hadn't meant for her words to hurt as much as they had. _But still_, she thought_, if her brother hadn't been such a dunce that day then he wouldn't have felt hurt._

**It was his freaking own fault.**

At least that was what Dana told herself and her mother as she was scolded and then sent to her room to think on what she had done. "Stupid Antonio," she muttered into her pillow as she wiped her eyes, "always getting me in trouble because he was a big dumb head."

She stole her hand under her pillow and felt for her iPod. She typed in her password from memory through her tear-blurred eyes as scrolled her lists quickly for their song. _Chibitalia_! She thought. _You never fail me, tell me what I did wrong._

Her favorite pop band responded with a lyric, _**"I wish you wouldn't correct me. I get along fine when you allow me to speak."**_

Dana started to smile as she put the ear buds in her ears. "I needed to hear that," she murmured as she let herself fall silent and just listen.

[Lovino]

"Are you fucking serious right now?" He yelled into his phone, from his room. A pause as Lovino hears the other's response. "You fucking _bastard_!"

His younger brother winced from inside his own room, moving closer to his German love. "Fine then, fuck you!" He heard his brother and then a small crash as a lamp met an ill fate due to his brother's hands from a collision with a wall.

"Luddy," Feliciano asked the German but said taller male shook his head. "I will have to leave while he's such a mood before he directs his anger at me." At Feliciano's shocked and pained face, he kisses his love's forehead. "I'll be back when he's better, for now it would be best for me to leave."

Feliciano nodded sadly, accepting it but not without a few tears. Ludwig kissed his love's forehead again and then sighs as he hears Feliciano's older brother stomp about the house. "I'll be back soon, I promise," he says over his shoulder with a small smile and then he gets up from the bed and throws his jacket over one arm and sneaks out the room.

Feliciano covered his face with his hands as a few more tears slip through. _Just when all had been going so well_, he thought. He uncovered his face and used one of his arms to wipe his eyes free of tears. He can now hear Lovino cry softly at the other end of the hall.

He wants to glare and shout across, "It's your own fault that your relationships keep blowing up in your face!" But he can't. It was never in Feliciano's nature to be cruel. Even when his brother deserved it, Feliciano couldn't hurt nor ignore his brother.

It was because of that, he crept out of bed. Putting aside his hurt that his love had to leave because of Lovino's bad mood, he crossed the hall. Knocking tentatively against the door, he asked, "May I come in, Lovi?"

No response and Feliciano sighed. He had already known he would have to go in anyway without his brother's reply. He had just hoped this time he was hurt as badly and would just answer for once.

Just this one, he begged as he walked in and tried not to flinch at the multitude of broken objects on the floor. Just this once, can my brother have some happiness?

Lovino was sitting in a corner, amber eyes blank even as tears continued their descent. His sun-kissed face was emotionless though Feliciano could already see the scars underneath. "Lovino," he started as he crept closer, "Come on, you have to get up."

_No response, _he thought_, that's not good. I have to get him out of here before he hurts himself._

"I'll have a maid come and fix this," he continued as he got closer. "Just come on, we have to get you to bed. You're going to hurt yourself." _Please don't let it be like last time_, he thought, _nothing like that one time when I wasn't home and you had a break up._

**Feliciano had all but nearly broken down when he saw his emotionally-battered brother on that hospital stroller into that blaring ambulance…**

"You don't know, Feli," Lovino said through a raw throat as he refused his brother's hand to get up. He stood on his own. "You never had to feel what I did." Feliciano knew where those words were going and went silent as he tried to prepare himself for the upcoming blow.

"Ludwig gave you every-fucking-thing you ever fucking wanted!" Lovino yelled and Feliciano hid behind his barrier, trying to ignore any stings. "He never left you alone to wonder and worry where he was! He was always there!"

Feliciano knew this to be true. While Ludwig had remained by his side loyally for all of their three years, Lovino hadn't one of his own loves stay true to him for more than a year. He had thought this one to be different, like Lovino, as he had seemed nice and trustworthy.

But, if the call tonight was any indicator, apparently he hadn't been. He couldn't hope to fathom how his older brother was feeling. This one had been with his brother for nearly two years. Before, that two year marking would have been an achievement.

Now, it just acted as salt as it encased itself in a wound and shifted restlessly, putting Lovino in horrible pain.

"He always took care of you..." Lovino said through a choked sob, "He never hurt you… He always took care of you…"

Feliciano watched his brother fall to his knees. He went with him as he tried to hold the other in his arms. "It'll be okay, Lovino, I promise. Someone better will come along."

Lovino shook his head, "I d-don't think so…G-Gilbert was…" He couldn't even finish as he remembered maroon eyes and that signature smirk on that face beside him. He remembered all too clearly as he remembered hot summer nights made hotter under sheets.

**How could he forget the one he had given that piece of himself? How could he get better than that?**

No, he couldn't and no, he wouldn't.

He just wouldn't let himself fall down that road again. _Not after this_, he thought as he continued to sob in memory. _Not after this_.

_**He was just burned all too badly to let someone in right now or ever again.**_

_So~_

How was it? Did you wanna scream or cry or bash your head into the wall? Did it make you go WTF? Is anybody confused about what the Hell is going on? *sees dozens of raised hands*

Well suck it up, princess! :D I will clarify all plot interests later.

*sees future review/angry letter/emailed death threat*

I will update "Beneath The Surface", I promise! I haven't forgotten! My other stories however…Pfft…no one wants to review. TT^TT

I love this pairing so I wrote this~ Hope to see you next time!

**xXxBrOoKlYn OuT!xXx**


	2. Leaving

**In-Tune**

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

Story alert/ Favorites: ** koriandr831, Cifer10, Elystriana, ChibixNeko, xXNelisa, yourhero74** ^^'

Reviewer(s)!: ** ChibixNeko **

ChibixNeko: I'm glad yhu liked it and said so. And don't worry~ Things get happier…towards the end ^^' (And an update is finally here! Thank yhu for not thinking I abandoned this. *bows* Yhu have the patience of my mother.)

A/N: I know this is late but I'm very upset. Read to my Author's Note at the end and yhu will see why.

**Recommended Listening: **"I Hate Everything About You" by Three Days Grace

**.:Chapter One:.**

_Leaving_

**[Antonio]**

Sitting at the table once again, Antonio tried to smile as he chatted with his sister despite the hurtful blow she had dealt him the other day. Francis was flirting with his mother and fully in his element when the sound of the screen door opening and closing alerted everyone that someone had come in.

"Papa!" Dana cried as she opened her arms and ran to her beloved father. He smiled, his dark eyes matching hers in joy as he opened his arms to greet her. "Mi hija," he greeted as he rose with her in his arms.

His gaze swept over the room, his smile gone as Dana babbled about her school, friends and other things. Antonio's father, Marquise, stared at all as Dana seemed not to notice how tense the air had gotten.

Antonio was stiff and, seeing this, Francis shifted his attention to his friend who was struggling to raise his eyes from the table. Marquise spoke and his words seemed to wound Antonio which each word. "I see you are home today, son." There was a harsh and somewhat bitten emphasis on the way his father said son and Antonio smiled thinly.

"Si Papa," Antonio replied, repeating his father's action when he addressed the other's relation to him with candy-coated venom. "It is Spring Break so the university I won with scholarships let me off." He cocked his head, his smile seeming more spiteful as he continued. "I brought home a friend, Francis. I met him in my French class."

Marquise's dark eyes flashed at the word French. He knew his son knew his father despised anything related to France since his company had taken a lost against a France-based one. He knew Antonio knew that by bringing home a befriended Frenchman would be an insult to the other.

"Antonio," Marquise growled and Dana finally quit talking and caught her father's words, "Get your things and get out of my house."

"Marquise!" Antonio's mother, Isabella, shouted as Antonio stared back at his father shocked. Dana began to grow afraid as her father snapped at her mother to be quiet. Marquise turned back to a stern-faced Antonio. "Get your things, niño, and get out."

Antonio shoved his way from the table, "Gladly, Marquise." Francis blinked and Marquise glared at him. "You too, you weren't invited with my permission so I want you out as well." Francis' face expressed his anger at being kicked out so rudely but Antonio called him.

"Come on, Francis," the other said calmly, cleverly hiding his emotions under a calm façade while Marquise looked ready to kill if they didn't leave quickly. "We aren't wanted here. I'll pay for us to get a room somewhere." Antonio smiled as he extended his hand and said, "Alright, mon ami?"

Isabella paled as Marquise seethed at how easily French fell off his son's tongue. Francis took the hand with a soft, "Oui." Isabella watched her son go up the stairs and immediately marched to her husband, glaring daggers. "You bastardo," she seethed as she snatched their daughter away. Dana protested but stopped upon seeing her mother's face. "You have just kicked out you only son, on a family vacation no less!"

"I kicked out a traitor to this family," her husband spat and stormed off to take a seat in the nearby beach house's den. "I have done nothing wrong. He should have thought about his presence would have affected the family anyway."

Isabella sucked in a breath to speak but at that moment, Antonio came down with Francis, bags in hand. She spun to see her son smiling at her sadly as he took a breath and waved as he said, "Adios mi madre," as he left with his friend.

Isabella was still for a moment, her green eyes stinging as she held her daughter and her husband, indifferently, turned on the television. A tear escaped her as he heard Antonio's car come to life and drive away outside. Just as she couldn't hear it anymore, her husband turned and said, "Isabella…"

"No, tu carbon!" She screeched and carried her daughter with her as she ran to her room and slammed the door.

She leaned against the door, Dana constantly asking what was wrong and what had just happened. Isabella sobbed as she remembered the day Antonio came home that day:

_Green eyes, red and wet, with his chocolate hair disheveled and wind-blown, how she had instantly saw him and knew something was deeply wrong. She had all but leapt at her, sobbing and hiccupping, and begging her in Spanish to make everything better for him._

_She hadn't understood yet and had tried to calm him down. She hadn't known what was wrong and what to fix. She looked at him and then gasped at the dark bruise on his cheek. Her mind had instantly wondered who would do such a thing as to hit her baby boy. _

_She knew he was nothing but the most likable boy at his school and knew he would never start a fight unless he was hit first. Antonio hated fighting though he had taken classes in mixed martial arts since he was young._

_She felt a vibration on her leg and saw him dish out his phone, stealing only a glance at the caller ID before he swore in Spanish to her shock and threw the phone at the wall. _

_The loud crash brought his father into the room where the man had wrongly torn her son from her arms and demanded to know the reason why Antonio had broken his own phone. Antonio had screamed at his father, demanding to know why "a damn phone mattered when he was hurt by someone he cared for"._

_She had tried to break them apart only to be pushed aside by her husband when he demanded to know who the person was and why Antonio had let them hit him. Jabbing at the bruise, Isabella had tied to intervene once more when Antonio broke down, crying freely, as he confessed about his love._

_Isabella tried to shush him to no avail and had a moment of shock when her husband had jumped Antonio and tried to beat him senseless. He yelled at his own son as he tried to hit him and berated him for committing a sin._

_It was just as Isabella had pulled her husband away and took her son in her arms and ran up the stairs that she saw Dana, her young daughter nothing more than five while Antonio was nearing fifteen, wiping her brown eyes sleepily and clutching her teddy bear face. "Mi mama…" A yawn, "¿Qué está pasando?"_

_Isabella snatched her daughter with her too as she heard her husband call out for her as he tried to march upstairs. Isabella ducked into her son's room and locked the door as she cried with her son and Dana began to cry upon seeing her mother and beloved brother cry._

_She wouldn't know what happened until she turned eight and eavesdropped on her parents when they argued in their room upon Antonio going off to college. _

_Marquise had wanted Antonio to go to a religion-based one in their home of New York so his son could "rid himself of his sins" close to home but Isabella was adamant against it. She wanted Antonio to go to the college Antonio wanted, a nice university he'd won on scholarships and his soccer-skills in Europe._

_Eventually Isabella won out when she dove into her own money to pay for his trip overseas. She saw him off with Dana but his father never showed up. Not even to say good-bye, Antonio had seen this and things between father to son had been tense ever since._

No matter what Antonio did to make up to his father, Marquise dismissed him by saying, "Have you gotten over _**him**_ yet?" He would see the reaction brought on by the painful reminder and smirk, "Until you have, do not expect any forgiveness of mine, niño."

Antonio had given up some time later and just proceeded to ignore the other. He stopped calling his father and just wrote his mother and called Dana. Marquise had taken it as Antonio emancipating himself so he cut all ties with his son and stopped giving him permission to come along family vacations.

Antonio had taken it harshly at first, calling and cursing out his father on the phone for near half an hour before suddenly hanging up saying he would see his family when his father "wasn't being a total ass".

It had been a hard total of two years since Isabella had seen her son. And the time she finally did, her husband pushed him away before she could truly indulge in her son's presence.

¿Por qué, Dios," she sobbed as she buried her face in Dana's hair when her husband banged on the door and demanded she open it immediately. "¿por qué hacer esto a mi familia?"

**[Lovino]**

Lovino was eating out with Feliciano, his spoon of spiced tomato soup about halfway to his mouth when Feliciano began staring at something behind him. Amber eyes were wide as Feliciano just stared. The younger pop artist didn't say anything and Lovino rolled his eyes at his brother.

"What, idiota? He snapped but Feliciano just continuing staring. Lovino waved a hand and Feliciano suddenly blushed as he turned his gaze back to the table and his German wurst and noodles. "Did you say something, Lovino?" he asked as started to eat again.

Lovino heard footsteps behind him but only raised a brow. A voice chuckled and Lovino looked up, and then stared himself but he accidentally let slip as he looked the stranger up and down. "Wow, no wonder you were staring."

Emerald eyes stood out brightly against tanned skin as the stranger smiled sheepishly. Dark shades rested in curly russet hair. "Um, yeah, about that, sorry." Lovino watched as the stranger looked away from him and smiled at Feliciano who looked like he was practically biting down on the spoon in an attempt to keep his mouth shut.

Lovino smirked, as he thought, He doesn't want to say anything to the guy for fear of Ludwig. What a weirdo. He's in the bathroom, you can talk to him just don't flirt with the guy!

Feliciano smiled weakly, "No, I'm sorry, it's wasn't polite of me."

Lovino scoffed as he turned to the man, "Is there something you need?" The stranger took the hint and smiled, "Not anymore, just wanted to apologize. I'm waiting on someone." The stranger frowned as he looked back around for someone. He sighed, "Ah well. Guess he isn't here yet. I asked him to meet me here."

Feliciano felt curiosity and asked, "Who are you looking for?" Lovino raised a brow at his brother's sudden words but didn't say anymore as he caught sight of Ludwig coming into distance behind the stranger.

"Uh," the stranger began as he stood up straight and Lovino inwardly growled as he saw the man was tall and his white T-shirt clung and tan cargo shorts to his well-defined frame. The stranger scratched his head as he put a hand on his hip, obviously a thought gesture.

"Antonio!"

The stranger turned around at his name and Lovino looked behind the stranger and saw Ludwig actually smiling. The blonde German smirked, "Glad you could make it. I haven't seen you since I graduated. How have you been? "

Antonio smiled. A gesture Lovino found he liked as he and Feliciano watched the exchange with interest. They had never met this friend of Ludwig's but it seemed they were close and obviously came from some school together. "Estoy bien, y tú?"

Lovino blinked as he heard Antonio speak Spanish. He found his face dusting slightly as he found he liked that gesture as well. He steeled his face as he turned back to his meal. _No_, he told himself, _no matter who this guy is. I'm not going to let him get to me_.

Lovino let the spiced tomatoes singe his tongue as his face reddened, _even if he has a nice ass._

Ludwig smiled, "Still holding on to Spanish." He shook his head as he said, "Okay Spanish and Italian are similar. "I believe you said you were fine," Antonio nodded as he grinned and his emerald eyes shone. Ludwig relaxed his shoulders as he smiled again, "I'm fine. I'm actually here with Feli and his brother."

Antonio looked back at the Italian brothers. He looked between them, "So this is Feliciano," he said as he took Lovino's hand and shook it. Ludwig chuckled and Feliciano giggled at Lovino's blush. The red-faced Italian slapped his hand away and tried to continue to eat.

Ludwig clapped Antonio on the shoulder, still amused over Antonio's mistake. "No," he began and turned Antonio to Feliciano who waved happily and smiled. "This is Feliciano."

"Oh-h," Antonio said and then his face darkened as he turned to Lovino. "Lo siento, I'm sorry!" Lovino couldn't stop the red that flooded his face as he forced himself to keep an angry face. In truth, he was amused, not many people could confuse him for his brother because they acted so differently. But then came Antonio and he changed that with one single gesture.

Antonio smiled, "And who might you be?"

Lovino looked him straight in the eye and smiled to everyone's shock but their shock faded somewhat when he said, "Someone who is going to throw the pepper into your face if you don't quit hovering over me."

"Fra-tello," Feliciano whined as his brother rolled his eyes and Antonio blinked confused. "That was mee-an!" Lovino shrugged, "Whatever, like I care." Feliciano looked apologetically at Antonio, "His name is Lovino." Lovino glared at his brother for telling Antonio his name.

Antonio laughed to everyone's shock as something lit up in his eyes. He ruffled Lovino's hair, still laughing, "Good joke, mi amigo. That was funny. You nearly had me."

Lovino slapped his hand away, red coming back to his face, as he snapped, "I'm not your friend and stop messing with my hair!"

Antonio dodged Lovino's hand and chuckled as he stood back. He smiled and waved at Ludwig and Feliciano, "Alright then, I'll be on my way, Ludwig, Feliciano," he smiled even wider, "Lovi~."

Lovino choked on his soup as Antonio turned to leave, "It was good seeing you Ludwig. I hope to see you later!" With that that Spaniard departed and Lovino rounded on Ludwig who started to tell Feliciano to chew his food more softly and ask how good the restaurant's wurst was.

"What the Hell, you potato bastardo," Lovino snarled, "Who the fuck was that?"

Ludwig looked at him, smile fading as he saw the angry Italian. "That was Antonio; he is a friend of mine from high-school and my old college." He turned back to Feliciano, frowning, "Their wurst looks a bit overcooked…"

Lovino fumed at how quickly he was ignored as Feliciano looked up at his boyfriend, "It kinda is but by not much. It's still good."

Lovino snapped, "And when were you going to tell us he was coming?" Feliciano looked at Ludwig, also waiting for an answer. Ludwig didn't even blink. "He called yesterday, saying he was in the neighborhood. I asked if he wanted to meet to eat today but he said he was going somewhere with a couple friends but could drop by a little while."

Feliciano seemed satisfied with the answer and went back to eating. Ludwig started to eat but Lovino snapped, "You told him who we were, he could tell a reporter."

Ludwig sighed around his wurst. He frowned a bit, chewed slowly as he mumbled about the wurst not being as good as home. He replied, "Antonio already knows, he says his sister loves you too, but he doesn't much care for it."

Ludwig shrugged as he began to eat his noodles instead of his wurst. "Besides, I know Antonio, he can keep secrets."

Lovino frowned, "Doesn't care for it…?" Ludwig nodded and Feliciano beamed, "He won't tell on us and get us chased!"

Lovino rolled his eyes and tried to continue eating. He tried to feel better and say to himself that was a good thing. But a small part of him wished Antonio had cared a little more.

Or better yet, he caught himself thinking, he could apologize for caring little with tomatoes at my door.

Lovino choked and Feliciano hurriedly reached over and patted his brother on the back as Lovino's face reddened. "Fratello," Feliciano said, "What's wrong?"

Lovino shook his head as he tried to banish that image of Antonio from his mind. He shoved a spoon of tomato soup in his mouth, cursing as his face continued to redden. No way, he thought, there was no way he was going to say that aloud.

_No way in Hell_, he thought angrily, and then his expression went from angry to sad as a face appeared in his mind. His movements to eat slowed. Red eyes against a pale smirking face mocked him in his mind as he ate slower. He could almost hear the other smirking, "_No fucking way, are you fucking serious Lovino_?"

Lovino forced himself to eat calmly, not even knowing his face showed a shadow of his pain_. Yes way_, he thought as he ate another spoonful. _I'm out again and forgetting you. I'm still alive after you._

_I'm still alive, _he realized as he looked out to the beach. His eyes, unconsciously, found Antonio's head at the beach playing soccer with two blondes.

Lovino threw down his napkin, "I'm done," he said and he smiled a bit as he looked at the beach again. "I'll be over there."

Ludwig raised a brow and looked at the beach and Feliciano smiled and chapped, "Yeah, fratello is going to happy again!" Lovino smiled as he rolled his eyes, "Whatever, Feli."

Feliciano smiled, "He called me Feli, Luddy." Amber eyes found blue ones. "Feli, after all this time, I think he's getting better. It won't be like last time."

Ludwig smiled as he put an arm around the smaller male, "Ja, let's hope not." The blonde German looked out and saw Antonio kick the ball to Lovino who kicked it back. He saw the two blondes and recognized both from college: Francis and Mathew, the strangest couple he had ever met.

"Ja," he repeated, "Lovino is going to be just fine."

But a small part of him made a mental note to call his brother and find out what he had said. _Lovino didn't break that easily…_

**What had Gilbert said to nearly repeat the Incident?**

_I am so-o-o-o sorry I haven't updated this! I know it's been weeks since I first posted! *shame* But I saw so little reviews…I just…*shakes head*_

_At least some ppl favorite it…_

_Though, *sigh* It's just not the same…Please._

_PLEASE._

_Please, yhu guys I'm begging yhu, please review next time. I can't know my story is doing well for just favorites. I need some comments! D:_

_So, with that said, please review next time._

_As of right now: at 1:46 AM, I, BrooklynBabbii have only one review on this story. That's kinda pitiful compared to my other stories which had like 3+ reviews on their 1__st__ chapter. _

_I know Spamano isn't that popular but still, look at the favorites. Those could have been reviews too! D': It made me sad, that only one person reviewed at all…_

_So I, BrooklynBabbii, ask gain that yhu, the readers, please review so I know I'm doing shit right._

_No flames! I swear to God, if I get a flame, not only will I be upset, I just might be hurt enough to delete the story altogether if it's the only review I have._

_Again, please review._

**xXxBrOoKlYn OuT!xXx**


	3. Lost and Found

**In-Tune**

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. SparomanoAntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

Author Alert: Alice429

Story alert/ Favorites: **Red eyes black phoenix ,NaruIchi, Lady-Prien **

Reviewer(s)!: **skribble-scrabble, anon, Elystriana**

skribble-scrabble: Thankx for saying so! ^^ and phones are hateful to me apparently… And Gilbert can be really mean when he wants to be…

anon: Yes, Lovino tried and failed…Thank God. Technically, in my story, Gilbert is a distant cousin and Holy Roman Empire (whom I am naming Haunry "Ha-n-ry" (My grandad's awesome name XD) is Ludwig's true older brother. Gilbert and Ludwig don't talk much.) I hope I don't give up on this story…but…things don't always come out so well when I get upset with something. Not at all.

Elystriana: Gilbert said bad things. Things he had **NO **business whatsoever being in his mouth. I had to make Lovino go with Antonio kind of quick for this chapter to work like I want it to. Yhu don't wanna know what Feli said to Gilbert. Trust me, after Feli, Ludwig was just a 1st degree burn over Feli's 3rd-degree burn over a fresh bruise and gunshot wound. Feli was pissed. DX

**Recommended Listening: **"Fool for You" by Cee-Lo and Melanie Fiona

**.:Chapter Three:.**

_Lost and Found_

**[Antonio]**

Walking around the block yet once more, Antonio smiled weakly as he scratched his head. He was confused, the buildings all looked the same and yet so different.

As it seemed yet againhe, an inhabitant of New York, was in Los Angeles and he was lost. He had been here for nearly two weeks and yet he was lost once again.

Today, Francis had gone ahead to talk to someone by the name of Mathew, he believed, and told him to stay put at the café…

**Unfortunately for the both of them, Antonio had seen turtles on display at a nearby pet shop…**

Antonio sighed, albeit tiredly, "At least I have you, la niña." The red spotted turtle blinked then turned its head to face Antonio. Said Spaniard smiled and the turtle cocked its head before ducking away inside its shell inside the small bowl Antonio had purchased.

"Alright," Antonio began as he started to look around once more. "Let's see if I can find us a way home, la niña." The turtle rolled around in its bowl, rolling onto its back to warm its belly in the sun. Antonio started again, took a left, then a right and then at the sight of a familiar beauty shop, his face brightened. "I remember this place!"

He started again, clutching his new pet tighter in the crook of his arm, took another left and then went straight. He thought he was left yet again, having taken a wrong turn before, when he saw blonde hair.

**But it wasn't Francis'…**

"No bueno…" Antonio breathed as he saw the head turn around. The blonde head held brown dots and spots and was above a slim pale neck. "No, bueno," Antonio said fearfully as he started to turn around. The head turned and Antonio caught a glimpse of emerald eyes and a large eyebrows.

Said green eyes widened as he turned too late to avoid their green eyes meeting. "Antonio?"

Said Spaniard froze at his name. He thought, _damn that stupid café for getting me lost…_

Antonio sighed and he was about to turn until a loud, brash voice yelled, "You bastard! I've been calling you for five fucking minutes! Pick up your damn phone!"

Antonio nearly jumped but then smiled as he realized he knew that voice. _Thank God_, he thought as he pretended not to hear the older and all too familiar voice calling his name as he started walking through the throngs of people across the street.

"Hello Lovi," he greeted the small Italian and said Italian rolled his amber eyes before he rounded on him, "Why the hell can't you pick up your damn phone?" The Italian threw his hands up in exasperation, the black leather band on his wrist moving down on his arms. The Italian felt its shirt and then pushed it back down in haste as he adjusted his cropped black jacket.

Antonio felt himself about to answer before something surfaced in his mind.

"_Why don't you ever fix it when it falls up?" The young Spaniard asked and his green-eyed counterpart raised a thick brow before scoffing. "You're such an idiot." Green eyes rolled, "I do it because it feels weird."_

"_Weird?" he repeated and the other looked at him before rolling his eyes again. "Yeah, weird, now can I get off the 'Reasons why He's Weird' version of twenty questions?" The other turnedto him, hip cocked with one slim hand on it, while he waved a slim hand front of his face. "Hello? Antonio? Well, are you going to answer or not?"_

"Well, are you going to answer or not?"

Antonio blinked, not even realizing he had zoned out. He smiled weakly, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I didn't hear the question." He tried to stand straighter and unintentionally put the turtle in full view as he tried to shift it in the crook of his arms.

"I said, why can't—" Lovino started before he cut himself off as the turtle revealed itself at Antonio's past shifting. Amber eyes widened as the turtle's own dark eyes widened at the sudden person. Lovino bent at the waist to better see the bowl, as his mouth gaped slightly in surprise.

"You didn't answer my call because you bought a turtle?" Lovino asked and Antonio couldn't determine if the tone in his voice was bitter or sarcastic or just inquisitive. "Si..?" Antonio told him, hesitantly and suddenly the bowl felt slightly lighter in his arms as the turtle once inside it was taken from his hands.

Lovino cocked his head at the turtle, frowning as Antonio just stared as the turtle seemed to smile and wag its tail at Lovino's attention. It opened it mouth and a small croak came before Lovino beamed, "Your name is Toby!"

Antonio blinked then chuckled before finally bursting into laughter. A distant voice was calli9ng Antonio's name still but Antonio couldn't hear as the Spaniard hugged the smaller Italian and the newly named turtle, Toby, to his chest. "You are funny, mi amigo!"

Lovino scoffed as he rolled his eyes, but not making a move to free himself. "Let me go, bastard. I'm still mad at you." Said remark made Antonio pull away and take the turtle from Lovino who started with a sudden angered, "Hey!"

Then the turtle was placed on Antonio's head, its tiny legs over his dark shades and nestled in his chocolate-brown hair. An arm wrapped around Lovino's shoulders while another thrust the bowl into his hands. "Alright, Lovi, if you are mad at me, I shall do all in my power to please you and make sure you can be happy again."

Lovino scoffed, "You're such a dumbass." But once again, the Italian made no move to get free and Antonio could rather than see from the corner of his eyes, the sight of a slightly-confused familiar blonde.

He paid them no mind as he laughed at the insult and swears Lovino called him as the Italian began to berate him for not picking up his call.

"I was standing at the café, your stupid French friend said to go to," he fumed. "And you weren't even there!" Antonio smiled sheepishly as he looked down, "Uh, lo siento, I saw the pet shop and saw the turtles." His tan face seemed to blush as Lovino caught his gaze. "I, uh, got lost, after I came out...yeah…"

Lovino scoffed again, "You have been here for nearly two weeks and you still don't know your way around?" Antonio laughed weakly then his face turned guilty, "No…"

Lovino shrugged, "Fine then, I'll be your guide while you in L.A." But at the same time the Italian said this, another said, "Antonio, there you are, stop!"

The Spaniard's body obeyed immediately at the voice before his mind had even realized he had.

Lovino blinked, as he entered the café yet again. As soon as he noticed the other had stopped and turned on a heel to glare at him. "Well come on," he growled as he started to walk to the same table Antonio had gone to when Francis had brought him earlier.

Antonio remained still and then he shook his head angrily and went inside the café anyways. Ignoring the voice calling behind him, Antonio went inside with the same smile he wore when he knew breaking wasn't an option.

He would realize later, it wasn't the familiar face from earlier but only a bubbly Francis towing a red-faced Mathew with little regard for how the smaller male said he was uncomfortable with Francis' hand on his waist.

Antonio would see this as a blessing and knew the tears would remain inside him…

_For now, at least_, he thought silently as he beamed at the waitress and she blushed as Francis made a compliment on her hair and made her face even redder as her smile widened.

Antonio watched Lovino roll his eyes as Mathew smirked and called Francis a "professional womanizer." Francis had boasted this with pride, having taken no offense to the statement at all.

Antonio had used the happiness surrounding him to block out his father's old and still piercing words: "Have you gotten over _**him**_ yet?" He would yet again see that cruel smirk as the one who was supposed to accept him said, "Until you have, do not expect any forgiveness of mine, niño."

**[Lovino]**

"I'm telling you," Lovino growled for the umpteenth time. "Our bill was only cheaper because of your damn smile." Antonio giggled as he patted his head and his tan hands found the shell of the turtle. The small reptile nipped at his finger when it strayed too far into its shell's bubble and Antonio laughed and pulled it free with from his hair. "Aw, Lovi, she acts just like you~"

Lovino stopped mid-rant, Francis still people watching and Mathew cocking his head in question. He saw the turtle in Antonio's hands be lifted away into the grinning Italian's hands as said male cooed at it.

"That's right, Toby," Lovino said to the turtle who rubbed against his nose, "You're such a smart bambino. You hate the morons~"

"Just like her mama~" Antonio sang and Mathew choked back a laugh and made Francis turn to the pair in front of him. Lovino's face reddened as he held the turtle close. "Fuck you, bastard," he snapped as he huffed.

Antonio walked in front of the Italian when he turned back to coo at the turtle and while he wasn't looking, the Spaniard easily lifted the small Italian bridal-style into his arms and whispered huskily in the Italian's ears, "When and where, Lovino Vargas?"

Lovino's face was redder than any tomato Antonio had ever seen as Francis applauded and Mathew kept urging to stop even as he tried to bite back the occasional laugh. Lovino glared through his red face and snapped, "Right when you get a working mindset to realize I'm not interested, bastard." He fumed, "Now put me down!"

Antonio whined, "Lo-vi~ That wasn't nice, mi amor~"

Lovino sputtered, "I-I'm not your lover!"

Antonio winked at him, "But you asked me to fuck you, didn't you?" Francis applauded harder and Mathew gave up trying to stop him as he just gave the passer-bys the occasional notion to ignore them and keep walking. Needless to say, most did not and just went on staring.

Lovino's face darkened as he recalled his words but he snarled and grumbled something under his breath about how perverted America made once sensible people. Antonio gasped as he kept the other in his arms, turtle included, and walked. "You think I'm sensible, Lovi? I'm so happy!"

Lovino groaned, "You're such a dumbass." He looked at Antonio as he hummed and walked. "Why do I stand you?"

"Just last week, you said you couldn't stand me." Antonio pointed out, "Now you can stand me. I'm such a stand-able person."

Lovino scoffed as he made himself in Antonio's hold. He told himself it was because he was too lazy to get up but in truth, it was because he felt like he hadn't in years.

_Not since the Incident_, he realized as he saw the condo he and Feliciano shared fro their upcoming appearance. He hadn't felt this way with Gilbert, or maybe he had but it was so fleeting, he hadn't noticed. Either way, he was feeling it now, near or at full-force. He felt great and feeling better than he had in a long time. It was like he was getting better somehow.

_I can't tell him_, he realized as he saw the Spaniard continue to hum softly to himself. It was a Spanish tune and Lovino stored it away for later for something to work with in the studio once he got back home. He'll run away as soon as he knows about what happened with me and B—

"Fratello?"

Lovino blinked and then realized he was at his door and Feliciano was staring at him with wide amber eyes and in a flour-splattered apron. Ludwig passed by the door, raised a brow and Lovino felt his face darken as he shifted and felt some sadness tug at him as he realized he had to give back Toby.

Damn it, he thought. "I'm not drunk," he explained as Antonio helped him get to his feet. He saw Antonio hold his hand longer than necessary but he told himself it was because the Spaniard was touchy-feely and always did things like that.

**When in truth, Antonio had been the opposite.**

The Spaniard let few people touch since that day when he had been hurt with hands that once gave the promise of soft touches. He let few people touch him without flinching, inwards or otherwise, and there were even fewer people he could touch him.

Lovino didn't know this but he would have if he saw how Antonio's eyes seemed to darken every time when he was accidentally touched on the streets. He would saw in those eyes when he found him earlier, how guarded those once-seemingly carefree green eyes were.

**Luckily, he hadn't.**

"See?" Lovino pronounced as he puffed his breath in Feliciano's face. It smelled of tomatoes not alcohol and the younger twin brother clapped as he bounced on his bare feet. "Yeah~"

Lovino rolled his amber eyes as he waved a hand behind him, "Whatever, later Antonio and entourage." Antonio waved back though he knew the Italian didn't see it and Francis huffed. "I am of no entourage," he scoffed.

Mathew placed a hand on his shoulder to steer back down the hall as he said, "Come on, Francis. I have stuff to do in the morning." The Canadian smiled as he waved to everyone in the room, Feliciano waved excessively as Ludwig simply nodded in farewell with a thin smile. "Thanks for the night, Antonio. I hope to do this again some time."

Antonio waved him out just as Ludwig rang in the pocket of his cargo shorts. He frowned, he wasn't expecting a call. He was on leave from office but he picked up anyways with a gruff, "Yes, this is Ludwig, what is it?"

"_Hey, West." _Only Ludwig heard the reply but he was sure everyone saw how he reacted.

Ludwig froze in his spot and Feliciano immediately felt tension and anger from the stiff German across the room as said blonde man immediately excused himself and left the room and went to his and Feliciano's shared room in the back.

Feliciano frowned; he looked worried as he wringed the edge of his apron with one hand and twirled a lock of hair in the other. "What was that all about?" The Italian turned and saw Antonio looking after his friend's brisk steps closely with a characteristic blank face.

Feliciano shrugged and answered honestly, "I don't know…"

Antonio nodded and then smiled as Feliciano turned back to him. He opened his arms, "Hug for luck across the prairie?" Feliciano giggled at the slight distraction and took the offering. The Spaniard smelt of ripe tomatoes and sun with a tang of spice. _A good combination for him_, Feliciano noted, _please fratello, don't hurt yourself..._

When Antonio had already said good-bye and had started going down the stairs and so he shut the door when Ludwig called out, "You are _what_?"

Feliciano suddenly knew who had called Ludwig as said blonde rushed out the room with quick steps and looked around. "Please tell me," Ludwig began and Feliciano felt fear began to twist in his gut as he saw Lovino appear halfway from his room, frowning.

"That you did not just let Antonio out," the blonde finished but at Feliciano's quivering lip and wide lips, the blonde swore under his breath and ducked out the door.

Lovino then shot out his room to his younger twin brother who looked on the verge of tears. "What just happened?" The older demanded and Feliciano took in the other's new clothes. Wearing nothing but a tomato T-shirt and slim red shorts, he knew the other was in no condition to go out to see what had made Ludwig move so quickly from the house.

**Even if the most pressured situation, the German was calm.**

**What Feliciano had just seen wasn't calm, he had actual fear.**

He had been right about to say no when a loud voice yelled out:

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

Lovino was out faster than Ludwig had been.

**After all the older Italian knew that voice all too well…**

_I am so-o-o-o sorry I haven't updated this…in like..forever and a fucking day. *face desk* I am so sorry, I got back in school and I had thought: Well they can't give us too much homework, we finish like next week and then we test and then we're free to do what we want until the 22__nd__ for summer break._

**WRONG.**

_Man, was I wrong…I had like ten assignments due on just the other day and as a German-Asian perfectionist, I was like: "Fuckkkkkk…" DX_

_Yhu guys just don't know… For wurst's sake, even my brother looked uncomfortable with how much Algebra II work he had to do. Molli just took in stride, saying he had had more in Moscow at his private school. Both of the German twins kindly and promptly told him: "shut the hell up, you genetic tall disaster."_

_He just laughed at us, like the tall genetic Russian disaster he is. _

_Then he did the creepy smile…_

_Do all Russians smile like that? I've been home with him and everyone in his house smiles like that…It's a little unnerving…_

**NOTE**: I have tried multiple times but in all, I've **FAILED**, so as of now, Lovino's past ex that nearly broke him is now an OC. . (I don't even like OCs but I have to use this one so bare with him. He won't make much of an appearance besides memories and that last bit….but he did a lot effect.

I shall make him Italian to further add more pain to Lovino and the reason why he chose to date another nationality after that.

…Kill me if yhu want but I can't think of anyone else who I could make do that much damage while still giving them the persona I want them to have.

Anyhow~ has anyone figured out who Antonio's past love is? (I tried to make it as obvious as possible, guys, I really 'large eyebrows'? Who the fuck else is known for his damn eyebrows? XD)

**xXxBrOoKlYnOuT!xXx**


	4. Jealousy

**In-Tune**

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. SparomanoAntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

Author Alert:

Story alert/ Favorites: ** Unknown Variable, keroneko13, DrastikkkMeasures **

Reviewer(s)!: ** anonymous, NaruIchi, Lady-Prien **

Anonymous: Do yhu mean Dana and Antonio? I don't remember Feli saying Lovino deserved the Incident. Just that he was worried it would repeat itself after Gilbert. (And if with Dana and Antonio, she's just a kid so she probably only meant it to get him off her case. My brother called me out once at dinner and I had to leave the room. It was really bad…so I can relate with either.)

NaruIchi: I think I know what yhu're talking about…This story is a bit confusing but I'm trying to work with it during school….and failing miserably. I have, like, no free time now! DX and I'm glad yhu liked it. But, I used to be one of those lazy ppl who used to go like "Ugh…reviewing takes too much work.."

Now look at me. I'm asking for reviews every chapter. Contradicting, aren't I?

Lady-Prien: I'm glad. Yhu're awesome. ^^ (Omigod, someone I read from is reading my story…*cheering and dancing in dark corner as to not be seen, doesn't realize brother is videotaping for YouTube*)

Onwards to the fanfiction! :D

**Recommended Listening: **"Loves Me Not" by t.A.t.U

**.:Chapter Four:.**

_Jealousy_

**[Antonio]**

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

To say he was shocked upon finding some man yelling at him is an understatement. He raised a brow but chose to answer as he heard the distant thump of feet running coming up behind him. He inwardly sighed. Great, just great, he thought, someone had heard this guy. He said carefully; face not even hinting at a smile, "My name is Antonio."

He made his way to continue going down the stairs and then Antonio caught his face. Maroon-red eyes, pale skin and near-white platinum hair. The anger drawn on his face made him resemble an angry Siberian tiger in Antonio's eyes with the guy's dark polo and shorts and combat boots acting as his stripes. But then the yellow bird perched on his shoulder ruined the tiger look.

There was that bird ruining it.

Stupid bird, Antonio found himself thinking and he almost didn't catch the man's words. "What the fuck were you doing in Romano's house?" Antonio raised a brow as an alien feeling rose in his chest. He had left Lovino's house. Lovino was not a Romano, he was a Lovi.

Antonio narrowed his green eyes, "None of your—

"Oui Antonio!"

Said Spaniard's head rose, the turtle's head coming up at the sound of its mother's voice to see a nearly out-of-breath Lovino and Ludwig standing at the top of the stairs.

Antonio looked at the Italian, at the blonde not glaring at Ludwig and shouting something in another language to which the other responded in heatedly to see Lovino's eyes plead for him to understand.

Antonio did understood but again he heard his father's mocking voice in his mind say, "And you thought you would be _**safe**_, didn't you? You were too busy locked in your fantasy to see what was really going on, _stupid niño_."

Antonio shook his head slowly and then took the turtle down from his head as Lovino watched in shock and then set it down on the floor and walk out while the man who continued to yell at Ludwig barely noticed his departure.

**That fact that Toby lay squirming on the cool and patterned tile was the only sign Antonio had ever been there at all.**

**[Lovino]**

But Lovino noticed how the turtle, his little Toby, waddled on the floor, afraid. He saw Gilbird glare at the reptile and with barely contained haste; the Italian took up the small turtle and heard the all too closely heard sound of the condo's lobby door slam loudly shut.

Lovino barely fought back the tears that threatened to fall. He spun to Gilbert, the one who had hurt him and nearly made him fall back on that same stretcher, and who had made the Spaniard leave so cruelly.

"Get the fuck out!" Lovino yelled and Gilbert broke contact with Ludwig, eyes going red and face tinted with the red of anger as he spun to yell at the Italian he had come initially to apologize to. But said Italian cut him off, holding his beloved turtle to his slim chest, and yelled again, "I told you to leave!"

Gilbert looked back at Ludwig, who narrowed his eyes in challenge, and back to the Italian glaring through tear-beaded amber eyes. He grunted and then growled, "Fine then, so much for getting on better terms."

Lovino grumbled as the door slammed yet once again, "Keep your fucking terms to yourself."

"Fratello, is it over?"

Both Lovino and Ludwig looked up to see Feliciano at the top of the stairs, tears marring his features. Lovino's eyes were pained. His own past and problems had caused this. He had his own brother cry again. Without even laying a finger on him, Lovino had made his younger brother cry.

"Yeah," he said as Ludwig took the younger Italian close and Lovino started up the stairs. "It's over," he looked back at the door, silently hoping that it wasn't.

But no door opened; his chest constricted as he quickly looked back and down at the floor. "Yeah, it's over," he whispered, his voice nearly cracking as he walked to their shared condo's door.

"Fratello?" Feliciano asked despite Ludwig's trying to shush him. "Are you—?"

"I'm not hungry," Lovino cut in with a flat tone. "I'm going to bed."

Feliciano nearly saw that image of Lovino going to the door and walking inside, this time, the turtle the item he held close to him, as if desperation of something with meaning, instead of the broken garnet bracelet he had been found with.

Feliciano broke free of his blonde lover's arms just in time to see Lovino's door shut softly, without a sound, and just as he heard the blood-curdling sound of the lock being closed—

Feliciano reacted, with images of that warm summer night coming back to mind as he began to bang on the door. He didn't even realize he was yelling Italian until Ludwig found him and forced him to their shared room where he tried to whisper reassurances in the smaller male's ears.

"It's okay, Feli, it's not like last time. He'll come out of this," Ludwig said but Feliciano continued to sob. He knew what the blonde said was probably true but it didn't hurt any less.

Lovino was hurt yet once again because he hadn't been there to promote peace. Last time, it was because he had let Byron in. Now, Lovino was hurt because he had let someone _leave_.

**He couldn't do anything right.**

But across the hall, Lovino sat against his bathroom door and thinking it was his own fault that Feliciano was crying and had been banging on his door to demand him to open it and prove to him that Lovino would last the night.

Lovino hadn't but he had promised t survive the night through the door right as he heard Ludwig drag his brother away.

Toby kept wiggling nervously and making a sort of crying noise in its throat but despite Lovino's distant caress to its shell, he knew what the small reptile wanted.

It wanted to see Antonio and know all was right. It wanted to rest in that warm nest of brown hair while the Spaniard laughed and made jokes, corny or otherwise, as he kept telling him to shut up and stop making such lame puns.

He would curse him out for looking at pretty women and for flirting back despite how Antonio wasn't even his to begin with.

_But_, he realized as his despair sank to a deeper level, _he had always at least listened instead of brushing him off._

Antonio had always stopped flirting when Lovino asked. He hadn't stopped his jokes but he did make them such a way that Lovino couldn't resist laughing to them.

Only two weeks, Lovino realized with a bitter scoff. Only two short weeks of restaurants, movies and games and that one dance club venture had made him fall—

"No," he growled even as he tried to bite his tongue but his mind said it for him. His mind told him in so soft tone or phrase.

**Lovino Vargas loved Antonio Fernandez Carriedo**.

No ifs or ands about it, his mind growled, he was in love with the exact Spaniard his own past had all but shoved away. It was his own fault.

"Why am I so fucking pathetic," he growled. But then a sob caught in his throat as he leaned back farther into the wall and away from the sink where he knew a brand-new pack of razors waited in the sink's cabinet.

"Why do I even bother?"

_You BOTHER because you _CARE**, his mind said, but Lovino didn't even believe himself anymore.**

_I'm baaaack and back on my writing game!_

_Sorry, it's so short but this was very important and for the next chapter to move smoothly, this had to be _short. (2 updates in one day, actually like 2 weeks, but I posted the same day.)

Anyways, the next chapter, we see how Antonio is doing on his end, a little tidbit (but not even close to) fraction of smut and then we finally see how popular Chibitalia! really is with the world.

:) I hope to see yhu there~

_W00t! _Updates will be swift this time, I am trying to get to this story caught up with my others with like…6 or 7 or 8 chapters…

._.

I know…I have a lot of work to do…

But what America doesn't, nowadays? :D

**xXxBrOoKlYnOuT!xXx**


	5. Concealed Heartache

**In-Tune**

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. SparomanoAntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

Author Alert:

Story alert/ Favorites: **(lol, no one favorite because they were too busy reviewing! :'D) **

Reviewer(s)!: **Lady-Pyrien, Lovi's Tomato Lover, Unknown Variable(2), anon? **

Lady-Pyrien: really, yhu did? Wow~ I love Gilbert too, but he is kind of hot-headed. It would be like him to flip out if his ex-relation had moved on (or seemed to) before he did.

Lovi's Tomato Lover: Yhu felt sorry for the turtle….lol. But no worry, love, Lovi shall prevail. Because Italians with anger-management issues and sailor mouths must prevail because they are awesome.

Unknown Variable: I actually wanna write a UKUS story but…I have to finish my other stories first... ^^' More than three projects at once would kill me. Maybe I can do it during my summer before I go off to Berlin.

Unknown Variable: That's why I love AU~ I made Felicano meet Ludwig through Haunry (HRE) by accident. But Feli loves Luddy. I made Haunry have someone else, the Chibitalia!version of Italy. They're freidn, (Feliciano and Chibitalia!Italy, I mean…) GAH! I hope this isn't too confusing…-_-" Ikinda suck with GerIta AU…it hates my logic…

anon: Glad yhu do, hun. Hope this update suits yhur tastes~

NOTE: I have only been to a concert in Germany…and once in UK, but that the better one for me was in Berlin. As such, I've yet to experience one in the US despite how I live in New York…FAIL.

Please excuse any concert mistakes. I'm going after my experience in Germany and UK together to make it seem more alive…or whatever. *shrugs*

My brother says hi and that yhu all for as he is forever saying "Pancake-flipping awesome." Whatever the Hell that means; ONWARDS with the story! :D

**Recommended Listening: **"When You're Gone" byAvrilLavigne

Lovino and Feliciano's song: "When I Saw You" by Mariah Carey (At concert)

**.:Chapter Five:.**

_Concealed Heartache_

**[Concert]**

"Well, this is VH1 at this 2012 summer's festival concert at Miami Beach!" The preppy newscaster as television viewers everywhere and concert participants at that particular stadium cheered and waited anxiously.

First came the pretty-boy announcer, where and how most music awards made each announcer into a model or how they found their models and paid them to announce wards and the next artists was beyond even the greatest of the time's thinkers.

When he announced the first artists, however, at the sight of their shared curls and amber eyes, the crowd went into frenzy. The security hired made their money's worth just trying to keep the girls and the few guys present at the front row behind the line.

Up on that beach stadium, Feliciano waved and beamed at the screaming crowd. He wore his best today: the smooth golden-cream colored scarf loosely tied at the nape of his neck since he refused to let Ludwig actually tie it for him. It matched the one he had tied to Ludwig's darker red one.

He had his favorite olive collared shirt with a white shirt being halfway exposed after the first three or four buttons at the top of the collar. The color of his shirt went perfectly well with the dark brown belt he used as decoration in the belt loops of his tan cargo shorts and one of his twin brother's many black boots that also fit his slim legs well.

Included with his outfit, Feliciano sported a series of multiple leather bands with colors of the Italian flag: green, white and red. On one band, he had attached a miniature image of Italy and a tomato to his own delight that surprisingly or not suited his outfit well.

He had been told to dress his very best and though it took him a few tries to find something that didn't mirror his twin brother's outfit and earn him an earful of curses and the few times when Ludwig had all but pushed him back to his closet and demanded he find something that didn't give off a bad impression of him being something he wasn't. (I.e.: he tried to wear one outfit and even Lovino said it didn't look right on Feliciano.)

But it was for good cause he was dressing up and that he and his household had tried to make him look presentable. After he and Lovino's manager had told them of the news that they were going to host the VH1 music awards just after they made the opening appearance and later their own concert as the finale.

It was the biggest opportunity of their careers, so far, and both twins had been happy to accept it.

Even if one twin seemed slightly less happy when, he found he could bring one guest and after a failed call, he realized he had no one to bring. Nevertheless, he invited an old friend, Alice, and upon her joy of hearing the news, Lovino knew deep down he had wanted to hear another's cry of joy and gratitude at the invitation.

Lovino smirked in his attire as he flipped his hair just to make the few girls he was close to swoon as he gave them a flirtatious wink. He stretched his arms behind his russet hair as he stood in his blood-red collared shirt, the sleeves rolled up his elbows, and with its decorative black swirls and designs ultimately depicting a tomato on a vine.

Over his shirt, Lovino chose to wear a half-done black vest that showed off the flat stomach he hid under his shirt and vest. He wore these articles of clothing with one of his many slim-fitting shorts, a grey pair that showed off his long legs, and one of his best black boots. The leather bands on his wrists went up his arm and he made sure to move them quickly.

Amber eyes searched the crowd for green eyes. If he just found a pair of green eyes, he could fake this. He could fake still being the cocky Italian pop/rock artist. Just as he could feel his heartache slipping through the cracks of his cocky mask, he found a pair of brilliant green eyes.

They belonged to a short girl with brown curls and Lovino smiled as he saw her skin was nearly the same shade. She would be perfect. He looked to her and waved, her face darkened as her eyes gleamed and a few girls looked at her with envy.

Too bad, bitches, he thought as a more believable smirk played on his lips. He took a microphone from the stand and tossed the one he was given for Feliciano. The younger Italian made a show of catching it, twirling the grey sound device between his fingers as he called into it, "Ve~! Are you guys ready to start this Chibitalia style?"

The crowd went into an uproar but Feliciano put on a face of mock-hurt and nearly faked a tear as he turned to Lovino, who shared his look of disbelief. "Fra-tello," he said into the microphone. "I don't think they're ready for us…"

Lovino scoffed as he entwined their fingers, and then rounded on the crowd, facing them towards the open crowd and cameras recording it for the whole world to see. "Yeah, you're right," he sneered into the microphone, "They don't look too excited to me either."

The crowd screamed louder in protest and Feliciano giggled as he saw a security nearly have to shove to get a group of girls wearing T-shirts with their image to back up behind the line.

Feliciano smiled, "Maybe if we did this, they would get ready for us." With that, Feliciano winked and Lovino smirked as Feliciano broke their hand contact and did a pinwheel on his heels. Just as Feliciano fell and extended his arms over his head, Lovino spun on his heel upwards and extending his arms in a half breast-stroke motion.

Feliciano rose with Lovino's past action and Lovino fell with Feliciano's past one. The crowd went into their second or third frenzy, security working even harder to keep the crowd behind the line. Lovino smirked, put his microphone to his mouth, "They seem ready now, ve~"

At the mimicked notion, the crowd cheered even harder in response as the twin musical duo laughed. Lovino rarely ever said "ve" and when he did, not only do their fans respond strongly in favor of hearing it again, Lovino usually teased them by "forgetting" what the sound was.

"Alright then," Feliciano said as he made his way to the front and slightly towards the left. Lovino followed, but stayed slightly to the right as they both said in-sync, "Let's get this party started Chibitalia-style!"

The crowd cheered and Feliciano smiled as he began, "For the opening, we will do a song that has topped the VH1 charts for nearly about," Feliciano paused in thought as he smiled wider at the crowd. "About three months."

"Our fans are fucking awesome," Lovino said and then he teased them, "ve~"

The crowd went into even more of frenzy.

"So," Lovino said as he put a hand on his hip. "We'll start off with our own song. You know it and you absolutely love it because you guys won't let it fall off the damn chart. Let's give it up for our 'Stride'!"

The crowd cheered at the mention of Lovino and Feliciano's original song that had topped all musical charts for nearly three charts. It was one of their many hits of their first album.

"And then," Lovino continued, as the crowd tried to tone down enough to hear him. "And then we wanna do a tribute to the beautiful and amazing Mariah Carey. Just because she's awesome, we can, and she comes right after we make the opening and then we host. Is that alright?"

Feliciano chimed in, "Ve, it'd be a shame if we came all the way here only for you guys to tell us we can't host the VH1 summer music festival~"

Lovino smirked, "So who's ready?"

The crowd cheered and when the crowd tried to yet again break over the line, one security looked like he was seriously questioning his occupation as one group of girls tried to jump over him to get within five feet of the stage.

Lovino smirked as his mind replayed the lyrics of the song.

_Ah good times_, he thought as Feliciano made the opening line, "So we heard you look like to talk." He shifted a hand to his hip as he put on a face of mock-pout, "Figures a fake would talk about someone who could do the walk."

Lovino joined in, "But who says I have to let you get to me? And who says I have to fall to fall to my knees?" Lovino pointed to the crowd as the music began to pump up and across the stage with vigor as the crowd began to jump up in enthusiasm. "Just because you try and fail, doesn't mean I will. I advise you back down, I'm won't go down without a fight."

Feliciano came back, "Or otherwise you might wind up hurt when I say a few things. I doubt you would want to walk away with more than a broken ego."

"Get down or get a break down," Lovino said, "Doesn't matter to me. Either way, I walk away, not a hint of a break in my pride."

Feliciano came back in, "Give me all of your spite and dares, all of your curses and swears, it won't matter in the end. It won't matter when I walk away, not a break in my stride."

From there, the song continued with the crowd occasionally being let in to recite a lyric or two. A few thrown words and dances later and Lovino and Feliciano's 'Stride' was over. "Well, who's ready for a tribute?" Feliciano asked.

Lovino scoffed, "Say no and I will so walk off the stage, and take my brother with me back home." One girl swore aloud in the crowd, promising vengeance if they left. Lovino winked and a close gasp as heard as he smirked, "Like I'd leave my fans. You guys are the best stalkers I could ever have."

The twins laughed with the crowd but then Feliciano said, "For our tribute to the lovely Mariah, we chose 'When I Saw You' from her Daydream album."

"If you have never listened to that song, after this, you will be a Carey angel just like our hopeless selves," saidLovino. Feliciano giggled, "You brought your copy, didn't you?"

Lovino shrugged as if it didn't matter and/or he didn't care. "As if I would leave it behind, the entire album, it's on my iPod."

Feliciano smiled, "Then let's go."

It came out sort of sudden, the soft piano notes as Feliciano sang, "Soft, heavenly, eyes gaze into me, drenched in space and time." The smaller Italian swayed back and forth slowly on his heels and, to many, it looked like he had the slow grace of a ballet dancer and an angel put together.

Lovino picked up where the other left off, "And I rendered stiff, there were no words for me to find at all." Lovino did not sway, he slowly rocked himself in small half-turns as the lyrics poured forth form his lips with clarity and grace as if the lyrics were his own.

Fans began to sway themselves to the soft music and the security present actually blinked as the crowd seemed almost subdued by the twin's, only slowly gaining stronger notes and adding more feeling to the words themselves, accent.

Just as the chorus came, the twins' voices fell in sync and the harmony made fans blink as the soft tones and how well it worked with them. "Once in a lifetime," Feliciano began as he continued to sing across the lyrics and then Lovino cut in, "And I thought it was all untrue, until there all at once, I knew."

Then came the chorus again, and the twins fell back into sync harmony rejoined and a few fans held tears in their tears as Feliciano and Lovino sang Mariah's lyrics.

"When I saw you, when I saw you, I'll never be the same~"

Their voices died slowly down to the last few notes and a hush came over the crowd. There was a short moment of silence as Lovino regained himself from his thoughts of the feeling that had always ran through him at the sight of those green eyes.

On the outside, it would seem he was awaking from a daydream when in reality he was trying to bury a pain deep within himself. So far deep it wouldn't fully get to see him fall again until he was well and alone.

Feliciano looked up from the floor, a slow smile coming to his features as he took his brother's hand. The older twin smiled back, as his pain was pushed successfully back. They both turned to the crowd, grins covering their faces.

"And how was that for getting this party started Chibitalia-style?" Feliciano smirked; Lovino had to smile at his younger twin brother as the crowd cheered wildly. Whistles and cat calls in abundance as the Italian duo made their way off to the side and backstage for a minute.

Feliciano smiled as he squeezed his brother's hand tight. "We did so great, fratello," he beamed as he watched over his shoulder another artist come on stage. Lovino smiled, as he saw amber eyes gleam in the sun.

He squeezed his hand tighter in response, "We make a great team. Of course, we did great, Feli." The older knew it made the younger extremely happy to be called by his nickname. It was rarely done by him but when he did do it, you could see how greatly the younger treasured it each and every time.

"Thank you," Feliciano said and just as it seemed he had to let the other's hand go, another hand appeared. Feliciano spun, nearly terrified and about to call out for help like he did when he was little, when he saw blue eyes.

His face brightened as he threw open his arms. "Luddy~," he called and the blonde shook his head as he chuckled. "You are so strange, Feliciano. I just saw you an hour ago."

Feliciano's hug was returned and the younger answered, "An hour was so long ago, like an hour ago, like you said. We have to keep in contact!" He let go to pull out his phone. His brow furrowed, "What's your number again? I want to see if I can text you between appearances in case I get bored."

Ludwig rolled his eyes as he took the phone away and pressed the number three. "Your brother put me on your speed dial." Feliciano watched in amazement as Ludwig pressed the number three on his phone and a moment later, Ludwig's own phone rang in a soft German melody and Ludwig showed it to Feliciano.

His eyes widened as he saw his name in white text under a picture of him with one of Ludwig's German Shepherds. The young Italian saw himself hugging the neck of one of the enormous grinning dogs and surrounded by the remaining three.

The call went into voice mail and Ludwig shut it off and tucked it back into his pocket. Feliciano whimpered and Ludwig's face expressed a small amount of panic. "What? What's wrong, Feliciano?"

"You didn't answer my call!" The young Italian whined as he took back his phone and saw the missed call record in his recent call list. "You didn't pick up!"

Ludwig raised a brow as he made a gesture to the young Italian. "You're standing right in front of me…"

Feliciano had yet to stop whimpering and feeling a tad bit of guilt for no reason, the blonde sighed and he typed a number he'd memorized long ago.

The phone rang and Feliciano's eyes beamed as he turned to Lovino, who broke himself from his thoughts to see his brother practically glowing as he saw a picture of Ludwig yelling something in his backyard as he trained his dogs and Feliciano sat in the background of the photo eating gelato.

"Luddy's calling me!" He beamed as he bounced on his feet and Ludwig smiled slightly at the young Italian's grin as said Italian opened the line and put the phone to his ear, "Ve, hello?"

Ludwig chuckled softly, "Ja, hello, Feliciano."

Feliciano spun on his heels to see the blonde looking at him with his phone at his ear. "Luddy!" He cried as he threw his hands up. 'You answered my call!"

The blonde nodded as he fought hard not to laugh, "Ja." Said blonde hung up after Feliciano as he was taken into a hug and he laughed as the Italian started to talk about pasta and soccer and siestas he was going to take as he dragged the blonde German back onstage.

Lovino sighed, alone. "I thought they would never leave." He looked up and almost immediately a small young woman began walking forward cradling a small green and red-something in the palms of her hands.

Lovino smiled, unabashed at how open he looked as he took Toby from Alice and into his own hands. The turtle's tail wagged in joy as it saw Lovino and found itself rid of Alice.

Alice winced along a smile as she said, "She didn't like me at all. She bit me from the moment I picked her up to the moment when she left." Her shoulders sagged, "I thought animals liked me…"

Lovino looked up from the grinning turtle to raise a brow and scoff. "Alice, you are one of the most animal-attractive people I know besides Feliciano. Toby just doesn't like anyone but me and—

Lovino cut himself off. He didn't want to explain nor say why Toby liked someone else or who that _someone else_ was the very reason Lovino even have the turtle itself.

No.

**That would be too dangerous to say right now.**

As much as he trusted Alice, he didn't want to disclose that information not just yet anyway. He wasn't really to talk about it outside of his room besides his younger brother, who knew of all of his past burns, and Ludwig who was being a surprisingly big help by taking Lovino's temper and hurt and letting the older Italian use him as a vent when he was near his breaking point.

Lovino sighed inwardly. They hadn't even been anything serious or even past being friends and he had fucked up so badly he had lost the only friend he had had since high school. A _friend_ that he could yell at without them getting offended. A _friend_ that shared his favorites and interests and tolerated the ones they didn't share.

They had been a _friend_ that knew about his stage life and hadn't tried to judge him at every chance. They had been a _friend_ that he felt better around. A _friend_ he could see was weathering away some pain of their own, despite how well he knew they tried to hide it. A _friend_ that tried their best to make him happy and, how despite when their plans didn't come out as planned, Lovino could still say in all honesty he had had a great time.

There was that _friend_. It was the very same damn _friend_ that accidentally had met his ex and had been seen as something other than a friend and had been yelled at and threatened. The _friend _that decided they wouldn't be a monkey-in-the-middle and had left, a smart but painful decision. It was smart of them to leave but nonetheless painful for Lovino to watch them leave and know it was his entire fault.

Entirely fault, not Ludwig's, not Gilbert's, not Feliciano's, it was his own fault.

Lovino sighed inwardly again, he had to stop this. He was going to break faster. He smiled at Alice who smiled back, not even realizing she could see it was fake. Lovino plopped Toby in the front pocket of his vest where it snuggled comfortably and stuck its head out to watch. He made to turn around fro the stage as he heard the last artists he had left at start to conclude their song.

He waved over his shoulder, "Come on, Alice," he said with also cockiness. "You're going to miss the next artist!"

The Belgian smiled sadly to herself as soon as Lovino's back was turned. It didn't take a genius to see he was hurting but putting on a brave front. She had already heard from Feliciano while Lovino slept on the plane of the extent of the damage he had taken recently.

That he was still able to put up a front made him incredibly strong in her mind. Yet also incredibly sad, she thought as she smiled and tried to catch up with the long-legged Italian.

_Why won't Antonio answer?_ She thought as she tried not to blanch at the crowd outside. She saw Ludwig leaning on a pole with Feliciano and followed Lovino there as the Italians announced the next artists with practiced excitement.

**What did he have to be afraid of?**

**[Antonio]**

The Spaniard fell on his bed, gracelessly, as he heard Francis complain dramatically. "My God," the Frenchman declared as he set the enormous stack of textbooks on the coffee table to open once he had lain down. He turned to the Spaniard lying still on his green-covered bed. "How can you excel in his class? That man is evil!"

Antonio laughed into his sheets. "I have no idea, mi amigo. The others say he's into green eyes and that's why."

Francis huffed as he put a hand on his hip, he rubbed his chin in thought. "Maybe I can get green contacts for the rest of the semester? Would that work?" He looked up just in time to greet a pillow with his face.

Antonio smirked, "Really, Francis? It's the method of psychology and strategy and how the human race, as a whole and in a general sense, think and reacts to stressful things under pressure in history."

Francis blinked and then the blonde whined, "Aliens have brainwashed mon ami!" He began to fake a dramatized faint and earned another pillow. The Frenchman fell back on the couch. "They have even begun to control your actions, how dreadful! What has the world come to? Why—

Antonio readied another pillow over his head, smirking. "Don't make me. I've got like twenty pillows over here." Francis smiled, "I surrender to the aliens that overpowered you, mon ami." The blonde raised a fist in the air. "For I, Francis Bonnefoy, am a lover not a fighter!"

Another pillow greeted him.

"Done, yet?" Antonio asked with another pillow ready. Francis nodded, "Oui, I've finished my ranting of nonsense."

Antonio put down the pillow as he stretched and made his way off the bed. He loved all of his classes though he agreed with Francis, even if their professor probably did favor him for his eye color, the class was still difficult in every sense of the word. However if you had a high grade in it, the confidence and pride boost was always welcome.

Antonio made his way to the kitchen. He frowned as he patted his pockets. "Hey Francis," he yelled through the open space and he heard Francis grunt in reply. "Have you seen my phone? I haven't seen it since I turned it off before we got on the plane."

Francis lifted the pillow to speak clearly. "Did you try your suitcase? We found it there last time." Antonio frowned as he looked in a drawer and pushed around the knives. "I tried there last night." His voice became a bit more urgent. "Come on, Francis, I'm expecting a call from someone."

"Who?"

Antonio ignored the question as he just shouted out, "Could you call it, por favor? I really need to find it." It's been nearly two weeks, he realized as he started to go out of the kitchen to repeat his earlier request when he heard the dull salsa tone.

Francis blinked in shock, as Antonio started for the couch and easily lifted the couch cushion the Frenchman was sitting on. He saw his phone there along with a pen he had been looking for a week ago and something that looked to be a hairclip.

He took the entire collection out as he ended Francis's call only to have his face pale in shock as he read what the screen said. "T-ten missed calls and twelve unanswered texts…?" He breathed and even Francis whistled.

The Frenchman turned to his friend and room mate as he raised a brow. "I never would have guessed you were such a popular person…"

Antonio nodded numbly as he scrolled through the list of missed calls to see who they were. His eyes took on a guilty look as he abruptly brought his head up to find a calendar. He put his finger to the date, as he tried to hurry as he saw his dying battery.

_That it held this long is a pretty strong testament to its endurance_, he thought as he moved his finger down the dates until he came to a red circle.

Only a few days from now and then the semester would be over, he realized with a soft sigh. _Thank_ _God_. He spared a glance at the name on his phone where most of the missed calls came from. He would graduate from this university in just a few more days and then he could be on his own with his Master's degree.

**He could find Lovino.**

_If he other even _**wanted**_ to be found,_ a voice mocked in his mind. He recalled how he had left and inwardly winced. _Okay_, he realized as he rubbed the back of his neck, _maybe that had seemed a little harsh—_

_Don't forget how Francis had then come up to you with Mathew_, the voice continued_, told you were all going back home early the next morning. Don't forget you had turned your phone off that very night and then flown overseas to Europe and then conveniently _**"lost"**_ your phone while this guy and your own mother had been trying to call you for days._

Antonio winced and Francis got off the couch, "Antonio, Mon ami?"

Antonio whispered, "Okay…I have a lot of explaining to do…"

He quickly abandoned the calendar and looked for his phone charger as he searched countless drawers before remembering Francis had plugged it in for his own phone a few days ago. He strode over to the outlet just as his phone warned him of its dying state.

In went the plug and he quickly slid his finger over the screen. He looked at the clock and then grimaced. It was nearing four over here. It was going to be very early over there if he did his math right. He took the chance and typed in a number from memory.

The ringing made him want to bash his head into a wall.

What if he didn't answer, Antonio began to think as his face saddened. He was going to miss the Italian dearly if so. He hadn't meant for things to go this way. He had misplaced his phone. That was a good excuse right?

_For two weeks_, the voice mocked and suddenly a sleep-bleary voice on the other end of the line snapped, "This had better be fucking good or damn well important or serious, whoever you are. It is fucking," a pause, and then a cry of outrage. "What the fuck, you motherfucking bastard! It's damn well fucking three in the fucking morning!"

"Lo siento, Lovi,, I'm sorry," Antonio shot out, "I just turned my phone on after my plane and my classes gave me enough time to—

"Lo siento?" A pause and then a muffled curse as something fell and hit the floor with a barely muffled thump. Antonio heard a female voice and felt a very small spout of anger sprout within him. The girl sounded confused as she kept asking who the person on the phone was and how Lovino kept shushing him when he wasn't swearing under his breath.

"Is this Antonio Fernandez Carriedo?" Lovino snarled, and Antonio gulped. He tried to stand straighter even if the other couldn't see it. He had to appear brave to himself, he recalled, before others will even think he is brave for anything.

"Si," he replied and he heard a laugh on the other end. Francis came up behind him, "Who the world is making that god-awful choking sound?"

"Fuck you," another laugh, "frog-face."

Francis' face darkened in embarrassment as he growled into the phone. "Why you! You-You watch your tongue! I am not a frog face and I decline your offer of making love, you hateful little ugly beautiful person-wannabe!"

Antonio chuckled as Lovino burst out laughing again on the other end. Antonio heard the girl ask what was wrong and then more voices. He thought he heard Ludwig and asked, "Could someone please calm him down? I need him to stop laughing so I can apologize properly."

Antonio heard Ludwig's sleep-rough reply of "Will do." And then he heard a muffled yelp. Antonio remembered a rumor he had once at the university. _Ludwig + tired + woken up early = pillow sucker punch._

Antonio's belief in rumors involving Ludwig and pillows grew three sizes that day.

"Ack," Lovino groaned, and a muffled curse. "What the hell, you potato bastard and you idiota, put some clothes on, Alice is in here!"

_So that's her name_, Antonio thought as he stored it away for later.

"I put on a shirt before I came in…" Feliciano whined.

Lovino barked, "It's fucking open, you moron!" Ludwig grunted, "Here, if it will make your brother be quiet so I can sleep."

Antonio allowed himself a small smile as he heard Lovino growl, "Don't baby him, potato bastard, he needs to learn to do this by himself! Let him button the shirt his damn self!"

"Who's on the phone, Lovino?" Alice asked again as she moved off her bed and into Lovino's.

"Oh shit," Lovino swore as he found the line still open. His face reddened. "I totally forgot he was there. He hadn't said anything."

"Um…you were talking," Antonio offered. "I didn't want to interrupt." _Plus_, he thought, _it was funny._

"Stupid polite bastard," Lovino swore and Antonio smiled. _If Lovino was swearing, he was okay. And he hadn't been cussed out yet besides for waking up so maybe he could get off this scot-free—_

"So why didn't you return any of my calls, bastard?" The Italian's voice was as cold as Antonio had ever heard it.

_Damn you, karma_, Antonio thought, _damn T-U._

"Uh, I lost my phone and…" Antonio drawled out and then he heard Lovino's scoff. "That's it. You don't call me back after fifteen days and now you think it's okay? Because you say you lost your phone?"

Antonio frowned and spoke his thoughts aloud. "You kept track of the days?"

"Don't change the topic, bastardo."

Antonio sighed, "Lovino, I'm sorry but I really did lose my phone. I have ten other calls missed from other people. Look, lo siento, but I really did lose my phone. I—

Lovino cut him off, "Fine. When can you get here?"

"Que?"

"I said when can you get here?" Antonio blinked at Lovino's question. If he hadn't known any better he would have said Lovino sounded eager under all that irritation. "Uh…" Antonio thought, then shrugged. "I guess Thursday at the latest, so—

Lovino cut him off again, "Good. We can go out then."

And then the Italian cut the line and he left Antonio staring at it dumbly. Antonio turned around to see Francis sitting on the couch, upside down, giggling as he texted someone back. A ping and then Francis read over the reply and his brows arched as he declared, "My, my Mathew, you learn quickly for an amateur~"

Antonio didn't want to know. He really didn't want to know. He really, really, really, didn't want to know.

"I never thought I would see the day to see my beloved actually reply back sexting me~"

Damn, the Spaniard thought as his face darkened in blush as his mind brought up an image of little Mathew…

Oh God…

Antonio groaned, "I so did not need to know that."

Francis lifted his head to see Antonio looking red in the face and severely comfortable. "What's wrong?" A ping and then Francis turned back to his phone and gasped. His face paled as he began to gag. "Non!" he cried, "This can't be true!"

Antonio read over the blonde's shoulder.

'**Hahaha dude. U r so dumb. Mathew is studying. This is his brother, Alfred. WAT THE FUK HAVE U BEEN DOING WITH MY LIL BRO TO PUT A FUKNG CHERRY IN SEX! DX'**

Antonio stifled a giggle. He was so glad he had never done that. Really glad, he realized as Francis hastily typed a reply all the while repeating how lonely he was going to be if Mathew got upset.

Antonio looked over Francis' shoulder as he heard the ping again. The new text read:

'**Mattie's face is soooooo red rite now! LOL. U r so sleeping on the couch buddy from the looks of it. XDD'**

Francis groaned aloud as Antonio walked away to his side of their shared room to study in his bed, butterflies flying around within him. In a few days, he thought happily. He would see his Lovi again.

_What makes you so sure he's happy about it?_ The voice mocked and Antonio wanted to groan.

**Damn you, mocking voice. Damn T-U!**

_Oh yeah! 6k+ words! My longest single chapter evaaaarrr! DX_

_This chapter nearly killed me during the concert (where most of the word count came from). I have no idea how an American concert goes. I've only been to one in Berlin but I think it's different in the US. So I ended up watching VH1 and MTV for idea and gave up that when all I kept seeing was model guys talking about politics._

_Damn models._

**xXxBrOoKlYnOuT!xXx**


	6. Arthur

**In Tune**

**Rating: **T

**Summary:** It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

Author Alert:

Story alert/ Favorites: **SoccerJoker214, AlfredFKirkland, Blood of the Dawn, TatumTot, alica023**

Reviewer(s)**Unknown Variable, AlfredFKirkland, Lady-Pyrien, skribble-scrabble **!

Unknown Variable: BECUZ I FUKN AM! xDDD

AlfredFKirkland: O_O What the Hell…_Mein Gott…! I knew it! _**UKUS is REAAALLL! **_**I KNEEEEW IIIIITTT**_**! XDDD**

Lady-Pyrien: Between Lovino and Antonio, you chose their kid— a damn turtle named Toby— I fucking love you. So do I! XD

skribble-scrabble : Si! Lovino and Antonio will finally become one. *Russia perks up* No, wrong storyline love. ((Russia: Damn…)) Yes, Alfred is a troll. *Alfred perks up* Where the fuck are you guys coming from?

((Alfred: Your brother let us in.)

Damn him.

**Recommended Listening: **"Go Baby" by Lupe Fiasco

**.:Chapter Six:.**

**[Antonio]**

All was going so well for him. He had his perfect job, teaching agriculture at a wealthy university, on the road to dating his Lovi, but settling for letting him room in his house when his little brother, Feliciano, was off with Ludwig, and all was finally starting to feel right and well.

**Now if only Lovino would hurry up with getting dressed…**

"Looooviii," Antonio whined from at the door as he once again looked at his watch. "Francis and Mathew are going to beat us to the dance club if you don't hurry."

Antonio hated being late but he had been excited at the prospect of getting out of his house and away from reality altogether with a few drinks and a night of dancing.

**And Lovino was going to make him late.**

"Shut up, bastard!" Lovino shouted down the hall from inside their shared room. "I can't find my favorite boots."

Antonio shifted from foot to foot, getting more nervous as time wore on. Francis was going to beat them and rub it in his face, "In the closet, left side, in the corner under your graphic tees."

A pause, then, "How the hell did you know that?" Antonio shifted again, "I cleaned up last week, Lovi, and I remember where everything is."

"Bastard," Lovino swore and Antonio heard a few sounds as Lovino took the boots from the closet and tried to put them on.

He was down the stairs moments later, frowning, "Happy now? I finally came out of the bedroom?" His face was nearly embarrassed, "Sorry about the wait."

The Italian shifted in his black jeans, pulling a shoulder of his red tee up though the long-sleeved black shirt underneath it gave nothing away. His boots made a soft sound as Lovino hopped on his feet. A bad habit Antonio knew signified that Lovino was embarrassed about something and unconsciously showing it.

Antonio's unease lowered considerably. "It's fine, now, let's get going. I don't want to be late." He smiled brightly and Lovino rolled his eyes, "Whatever bastard," his eyes narrowed as he glared at Antonio. "Molest at any time we're in the club and I will leave immediately after kicking your ass."

Antonio giggled, until he saw Lovino was serious. "Wait, you're serious? You would leave me all alone…"

Lovino turned on a heel and walked away, inwardly smug. Antonio blanched as a memory resurfacing as he saw Lovino's back face him as the Italian walked out of the house.

"He wouldn't do that..." He started to say but a past voice mocked him in his mind.

"_Don't be such an idiot." A familiar voice scoffed, "the moment I feel like leaving, I will and there's nothing you can do to stop me."_

Antonio shook his head, trying not to be drawn into a bad mood. He was going out with Lovi and Francis and their friends in celebration of his and Francis' graduation from the university. It was supposed to be a happy time.

**So why did he have a bad feeling it would not end well in his favor?**

**[Lovino]**

It had started off well, for the most part, the club wasn't packed with people but it wasn't empty in the least either. The drinks didn't cost an arm and a leg and were actually pretty good. Besides the drunken and sober flirts he got, Lovino had actually enjoyed himself.

He was sipping a bloody Mary, chosen for its tomato contact, rather than anything else, when someone else sat down beside him. He turned and saw a blonde, a short one, too, with green eyes and large brows. The blonde ordered a beer, something Lovino found interesting.

"The blonde realized he had sat next to someone and turned in his seat slightly to extend his hand. Lovino immediately thought, either he's trying to get laid or trying to act like a gentleman. He hoped for gentleman as he returned the handshake, and the blonde said, "My name is Arthur, who might you be?"

_I know that accent from somewhere_, Lovino thought, _but where did I hear it? Damn it._ "Lovino," he answered as he started to turn in his seat as well. Arthur narrowed his eyes in confusion right before they lit back up. "You're part of that—!"

Lovino cut him off with a quick hand over his mouth. He looked around to see if anyone had head Arthur. No one seemed to have noticed and Lovino relaxed a little.

_Leave it to a blonde to nearly get me tackled by fans in a club_, he thought sourly as he glared at him. "Shut the hell up, idiot. I'm not trying to get tackled by fans. I want a peaceful night."

Arthur narrowed his eyes but Lovino pulled his hand, he said nothing. Arthur's face relaxed as he asked, "Who are you here with, then? I don't recall seeing your brother here…"

Lovino raised a brow, "No, my brother's in Germany." _Please don't ask why, please don't ask why, please don't—_

"Why?"

_Damn it._

Lovino shrugged, "He's with his boyfriend, I don't care much for him but he makes fratello happy so whatever. The moment eh fucks up, I'll be on him with a chainsaw."

Arthur snickered as his beer was placed in front of him, "Hmph. You sound like a decent older brother."

Lovino scoffed, feeling cocky but starting to like the other's company nonetheless, besides his earlier near-slip up, that is. "I am way past decent, I would say amazing."

"Not awesome?"

Lovino inwardly winced, "Awesome is fucking lame." He noticed it felt good to say that.

Arthur scoffed and sipped his beer. "Lame is it?" He snickered again, "Don't let Alfred or any of the others hear you say that." Lovino felt a smile creep onto his face, "And why not?"

Arthur turned towards him to raise a brow and smirk. "If they hear that awesome is lame," he started, "All Hell is going to break loose as they try to either defend the word's name or come up with a new name entirely."

Lovino and Arthur shivered in unison. "I hope it's not the latter," Arthur said, "I'll be stuck hearing nonsense of the English language for weeks."

Lovino nodded, "No kidding, if Antonio heard that, he'd have a fit."

"Antonio?" Arthur asked, and Lovino saw interest pique behind those green eyes even as worry pinched his worry. "Are we speaking of the same Antonio?"

"Has two last names, Fernandez and Carriedo?" Arthur asked and Lovino nodded, Arthur started to look around. "He's here, really?" He frowned. "I used to know that git in middle and high school."

"No shit?" Lovino said, he was surprised. Antonio kept in contact with all of his friends. He had caught talking to one friend from his family's trip to Canada when he was eight. "You used to know Antonio?"

Arthur nodded, "Yes." He frowned as he stopped looking around. "I admit we didn't end well however. He moved after we got into a pretty bad fight."

"Like, argument fight or fight fight?" Lovino pressed. He didn't, or rather couldn't, understand what made Antonio sever contact with Arthur. He seemed like a really great guy. _What about the fight with Arthur had made their friendship end?_

"It was a little of both," Arthur said sadly, "I don't like it ended but I can be very—

"Artie! " A voice called out and Arthur winced as he put his head on the bar counter. "Oh dear Lord, here comes the bane of my existence…"

Lovino raised a brow but then he held back a laugh as a peppy blonde came into view. Tall, lanky and blue-eyed, the young man as a perfect image of American youth.

_Loud, boisterous and forever going on about nothing important_, Lovino thought sarcastically as the man came closer.

"Arthur, why did you leave me on the dance floor, man?" The man said, hands on his hips as he leaned over Arthur's shoulder, "We were having fun!"

Arthur's face reddened, "I'm not a girl, Alfred. I refuse to dance the way those wankers were doing for you." Alfred rolled his eye, "Come on, Arthur," he pleaded as he began to try to pry the Englishman's fingers from the counter to drag him back with him. "You have an ass like a girl, use it."

Lovino barely held back a laugh as Arthur's face started shaming beets. "I-I do not…it's just…you just... Shut up!" The Englishman hid his face in his arms. "Leave me alone, Alfred, you are shaming my image of a man."

Alfred finally pulled the English man to his feet. He gestured to Arthur's clothes, "See? You even dress like a girl would." Arthur's face reddened further as he looked down at himself, frowning. Lovino looked as well. He didn't see anything girly about the way Arthur dressed.

Tight black jeans, a blue graphic tee, a checkered black/white belt with black boots, there wasn't anything girly about it. Maybe the pants fit a bit too snug around the waist and such, but Lovino had that problem with some of his clothes too...

"I do not!" Arthur growled, and Alfred smiled as he clapped the smaller male on the back. "Yes, you do," he said, "Now let's go back to the dance floor so you can shake what your mum gave ya."

He laughed as he dragged Arthur away, the Englishman muttered obscenities under his breath. Lovino caught something about a couch and he heard Alfred say, "You would miss me before long."

Lovino blinked and then laughed at the bar as he finished his drink. He shook his head as he put money on the bar and walked off in the direction he had left Antonio in. He had a few questions to ask the Spaniard.

For instance:

**What happened between him and Arthur?"**

**Yeah, I updated! **

**About time…**

_Barely 2k+ words…_

Wow, I'm pathetic…. *face palm* Sorry, this is oh-so late. I've been trying to update my other stories. But as it looks like now, from my UKUS story "Our Make-Believe Land" and my other stories, all I keep getting are favorites.

No reviews and that pisses me off. Okay not that badly…yet. But guys, seriously, you need to review if you actually want the next chapter out at a certain time. I love favorites but I love reviews even more.

My plot bunnies depend on reviews to survive and without reviews; I don't feel motivated enough to write the next chapter. I could leave a story mid-way at a crucial part and probably won't update it for a long time just because I didn't get a review.

I've done it before and I'll do it again.

If necessary, I will just delete the story altogether.

*sighs* But enough of that. *smiling* you guys have been really good to me with reviewing. You keep doing it and I thank you. It's just some others on my other stories whom I look at with disappointment. I would give you guys a bonus update but I can't do that right now.

**xXxBrOoKlYnOuT!xXx**


	7. Sore Spots

**In-Tune**

Rating: T

Summary: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

BrooklynBabbii

Author Alert: ashley12chan

Story alert/ Favorites: **Lovi's Tomato Lover, KichiMiangra, ashley12chan, Mona Lisa's Ballad, snowfire110, SammySplat108**

Reviewer(s)!: ** Lady-Pyrien, ashley12chan, AlfredFKirkland **

Lady-Pyrien: Toby loves you, too~ *Toby goes inside shell* He's shy, like his mommy~ I'm sure what happened this chapter is going to make you go: "WTF? ARE YOU SERIOUS! THAT, ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

ashley12chan: Just when I think people don't like Spamano, you guys come in and remind me that I'm not some crazy fangirl. :D Thank you for the compliments. I can't tell you how much it means to me to hear you say that!

AlfredFKirkland: Not signed in, you're there but you're not signed in. It's alright. UKUS AND USUK forever! :D Something about that pairing just makes me smile like Russia…while recording any and all smut done like a Japanese ninja in the window. :DD

And thank you for complimenting my story! (When I put Antonio and Arthur together, I was reading on the Spanish Armanda and how they used to get their asses kicked by England…I laughed. And PruMano is still…I haven't read of it...Is it a crack pairing like RomanoxCanada? If so, I probably won't read it. I don't really get crack pairings…I love crack!plot stories, but crack pairings confuse me.)

**AND IF I HIT YA WITH DAT SPAMANO FLUFF, YOU BEST BE READY FOR A CAVITY. 'CUZ I DOES THE FLUFF SWEET AND HARD. XD**

That sounds mildly perverted…I watch too much Hetalia for my sanity~

**Recommended Listening: **"**" by **

**.:Chapter Seven:.**

**[ANTONIO]**

He smiled, turning down another road and slipping behind a truck in the turning lane. The clubbing venture had gone brilliantly. He had had fun. He had even gotten a few chances to experience his Lovi dancing with him. The memory was nice, to say the least.

"Oui, bastard," Lovino turned slightly in his seat. The seat belt kept him from turning fully in the passenger seat but he still caught Antonio's attention. "Yes, mi tomate?"

Lovino narrowed his eyes, used to the pet name but still uncomfortable with it from its similarity to one nickname he had received from another.

_Mio frutto poca passion~_

Lovino tensed slightly, as he recalled how happy he had once been to hear that name be called across the yard and at him. "Uh," the Italian began as he light shifted from red to yellow on an adjacent lane. "What was I going to say?"

It was just as Antonio saw the light go green that Lovino snapped his fingers in remembrance and beamed at himself. "Oh yeah! I met this guy named, Arthur Kirkland at the club."

Antonio near had a heart attack, as his foot pressed down harder on the gas and he moved around the beat-up truck in front of him to avoid slowing down in the lane. It was late, anyways. The likelihood he would be caught at this hour was slim to none.

Antonio took a swift turn, the convertible taking it easily but Lovino not so well as said Italian cursed the Spaniard's wide turn and then sudden jump in speed that nearly rivaled Lovino's own speed limit on his motorcycle.

"What the fuck, bastard?" Lovino barked, "What's gotten into you?"

Antonio's usually bright green eyes were hard, as he took another swift turn, near his and Lovino's shared home. He was not going to discuss-that person- in a car. He'd rather be in his house so he can lock himself and be alone if the emotions built up again.

"I will tell you, what has gotten into me," Antonio growled, pulling his hands from the steering wheel and yanking his keys from the ignition. "Mi cocina- ahora," he ordered, "I won't speak about that fucker outside where people can hear everything I have to say."

The Spaniard left, hurriedly and Lovino blinked. When was the last time he had heard Antonio swear?

"Damn near never," he realized, as he slowly unbuckled himself and exited the car. He had only said he had met Arthur at the club. Arthur said they had left on bad terms…had it been that bad?

Couldn't have been, Lovino assured himself as he walked up the front porch. He thought he saw the hanging tomato plants try to grab at him but he only raised a brow and shrugged it off. He walked inside and immediately saw Antonio through the kitchen doorway, walking briskly and making something while grumbling under his breath.

Lovino frowned as he saw the grim expression on the other's face. He couldn't recall a time when he had seen that expression.

Well, there was that one time, when Antonio's dad had called and Lovino answered his phone. That had been awkward when the man on the other end had started yelling at him in Spanish too fast for him to follow before Antonio walked in.

The usual-cheerful Spaniard looked angry and proceeded to shut the man mid-rant about something on "disgrace" and "impurity" by hanging up on him. Antonio had then shut off his phone for the night and sat outside in his tomato garden for a long time. He didn't let Lovino go near him the whole two hours he was outside.

He came back inside, at midnight, his hands dirty from tending the soil. He didn't seem like himself for a while and though Lovino tried to cheer him up, few attempts were actually successful in even startling a reaction.

Instead of immediately going to the kitchen, Lovino sought out the now full-grown and nearly twenty-pound turtle. Toby looked up from the couch where it had been resting, but upon seeing Lovino approaching it with a smile, its tail wagged and it pulled itself up and off the couch.

Lovino bent to pet his beloved turtle's shell. He was the reason it had grown so long. During his anticipation of waiting for Antonio, he had fed Toby tomatoes. Not a wise decision as the turtle's weight skyrocketed and rivaled a male snapping turtle.

"Wait- aren't you a snapping turtle?" Lovino asked and the turtle looked at him, gaze flat, as if to say, "Aren't you Italian? Is your brother an idiot for dating that German? Are we stating the obvious?"

Lovino frowned, "Don't get smart with me, you little brat." Toby rolled its neck, as if to say, "Whatever."

Lovino brought out his trump card, "No tomatoes are you." Toby's head snapped back fast, eyes wide and fearful. Lovino smirked, "Two nights, and I'm telling the bastard not to sneak you anything like last time."

Toby's head dipped to the floor. Lovino petted its shell, "You'll survive, now come on, we have a family meeting in the kitchen." It wasn't a family meeting but Lovino had found Antonio acted a lot softer on touchy subjects where Toby was around. He was bringing the turtle for the safe assurance he wouldn't be hit too badly.

_Wait,_ he paused in the doorway of the kitchen, frowning. _Why do I think I'm going to get hit?_

"Lovino, get in here."

Lovino raised his head and saw Antonio sipping from a steaming dark mug. The Spaniard's green eyes were dark but coldly flat. Lovino bit his lip, slowly walking past the other, and noticing the other gave him no other acknowledgement, before he sat himself at the kitchen table.

Lovino was about to say something when Antonio started for the doorway to the door of the kitchen. "No, Toby, stay out. This is private," he said and then slammed the door in the turtle's face. Frantic scratching was heard and Lovino jumped up.

He was getting pissed now. Why was Toby being kicked out?

"Hey, bastard," he started to snap, "What the fuck do you call yourself doing, throwing the door at Toby like that—"

Cold, green eyes turned on him as Antonio growled, "Sit down."

Lovino felt more than saw himself immediately obey the command. He blinked, as Antonio sighed deeply, "What do you want to hear first?" Antonio said, sarcastically as he sipped from his mug again. "How about what he found out about me or how he reacted when he tried to beat the shit out of me?"

**[LOVINO]**

He blinked. He had not been expecting that response. "What are you—?"

Antonio chuckled darkly, eyes growing closer to black in his grief. "Or maybe I should start on how we met, when I saved him from getting nearly killed by a school bully for being an actual 'British fag'?"

That laugh was bitter and Lovino felt fear well in him. "Maybe how because of him, I can't even stay in the same room as mi Papa for fear he'll bring up my burn in my face."

Antonio glared down at his mug, fingers clenching around the rim. "Maybe how I was nearly kicked out of my own house for admitting I had loved him. Maybe how he had publicly humiliated me on the night of the school talent show in front of every _fucking_ kid there."

Lovino flinched at the foul language. _Okay_, he thought, _maybe meeting Arthur was a bad thing in the long run. _He tried to say something, but was cut off by Antonio's bitter laughter again.

"Maybe I should start with how when I had run away, and my family moved away for my father to save face, he kept making numerous attempts to find me each and every way he could." The usually-happy Spaniard's face was grave and etched with a deep hatred.

Antonio leaned back against the counter, grinning coldly. "Talked to my old friends and finally convinced his gullible parents to go to New York where I was staying with a couple of friends."

Antonio shook his head, "You know how Francis does that kissing thing when he greets friends? You should have saw Arthur's face. He tried to beat him to a freaking pulp. I actually had to drag him, kicking and screaming, back to his hotel."

He huffed, tossing the mug into his sink carelessly. "I told him to leave me alone," Antonio grimaced, "But not in a way, I would now…"

Lovino blinked and then he shook his head wildly, confused and angry all at once. "What the Hell, bastard!" He shouted, as he threw up his hands. "You still haven't told me what the fuck he actually did to deserve this!" Lovino glared, "What the fuck did he do?"

Antonio lost his smile immediately, "He lied to me." Lovino was about to say that wasn't a justified reason when Antonio continued, starting forward, and glaring down at Lovino with a glare that wasn't even meant for him. "He _lied_."

"He found me out, Lovino, do you get it now? _Él se enteró_. _De mi secreto_._" _Antonio snarled, "He found out and flipped and then ran his mouth. He found out the biggest secret of my damn life and he went and opened his damn mouth."

Lovino was shaking, but he tried to keep his anger so he wouldn't get scared. "What the Hell did he find out?"

Antonio immediately deflated and looked away, mumbling something. Lovino narrowed his eyes, "I didn't catch that…"

Antonio glared at the floor, "I said, he found out about my…" The Spaniard's eyes misted over as he said, "He found about Isabella."

Lovino frowned, "Wait, was she your girl on the side or something?"

Antonio shook his head, "No…She's…Isabella Sofia Sandoval-Carriedo is my daughter."

_Can you say: "Oh Shit"?_

_I was about to cry this chapter. I really was. I had to split the chapter in half. Because one half was just "blah, blah, blah" and the other was "yell, yell, scream, break shit, and yell again" and then the big door slamming._

_I hope this chapter met suspicion standards and I hope to see you guys sometime this or next week for the other half of the update!_

_:D_

_Fun Fact: Spain had a queen during his Inquisition period named Isabella…she was a really mean lady against the Jews…D: (Why can't we just get along?)_

**xXxBrOoKlYnOuT!xXx**


	8. Dark Secrets

**In-Tune**

Rating: T

Summary: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

BrooklynBabbii

Author Alert:

Story alert/ Favorites: **batty29, telemarker **

Reviewer(s)!: **Unknown Variable, Lovi's Tomato Lover, Lady-Pyrien, KichiMiangra **

Unknown Variable: Nice to see you again, Tony. (I shall call you Tony because of your username. It reminds me of UFOs and I automatically think of Tony the alien when I see your username in my inbox. Lolz) And that's a good question: which you shall see when the chapter opens! READ ON and REVIEW!

Lovi's Tomato Lover: (Toby: You cried for me? Thank you! My dad was a real dick to slam the door in my face like that! I mean, come on, really, I wanted to hear too! Have you seen my parents? Pft, of course, I'd be sexy! I don't know about the marriage part, my mom might not go for that…he might cuss you out and throw rocks at you if dad doesn't stop him…)

I noticed that too…EnglandxSpain ficts are actually on the rise ever since I published this story…a coincidence?

And furthermore: you seem surprised. Didn't think Antonio would have the balls to knock a girl up? Hehe, I don't see Lovi fainting from just that news. Maybe what he hears later…but not from just the last chapter. If Toby commits suicide, his fan-club on here will all mourn his loss…

(Toby: Tell her to let go of me. She is crushing my lungs through my shell! ...And love you too?)

Lady-Pyrien: It shall unravel dear- unravel and then blow up. (And I assume you're president of the Toby fan-club then? Make a community thingy for the amazing Toby! XD)

KichiMiangra: (I pretty much answered your review in the PM. So this is me copying dn pasting from the latter parts of the first message.) Lovi needed more love~ So I gave him Toby *hearts* I'm sorry about the cliffhanger...the chapter had to be split. Oh! About the "oui" thing...um, my computer kind of auto-corrects my words. My laptop is from Germany and some words I put in English come out different when my computer tries to fix it. It's stupid, I know...but hey, so is life, da?

**And- DOES TOBY HAVE HIS OWN FUCKING FAN-CLUB? XDDD**

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

**.:Chapter Eight:.**

**[ANTONIO]**

Lovino blinked as Antonio continued. "She's from a girl I was using as a way to cover up…my, err, relationship with Arthur." Lovino frowned, Antonio guessed correctly from the look of growing disdain and anger on the other's face, he wasn't saying it right.

The Spaniard sighed, covering his face with his hands. "I'll start from the beginning." When he pulled his hands away from his face, it was revealed as blank and but bordering on dark with sadness. "I met Arthur when I was in the seventh grade."

Antonio kicked the floor, looking down at it as if it could give him courage. "His family had just moved from England, and he was being picked on because of all of the misunderstandings. They do things differently, in England, you know? So yeah, he was being picked on and I had just happened to pass by during one of them…"

Green eyes darkened, though the memory wasn't anything to be depicted as too painful. At least, for him, it wasn't too much in the physical-wise sense.

"_Damn Americans…" Arthur muttered, Antonio caught around the corner. He had a free period since he had finished all of his work for the week early. His father had said they were going out of town for a few days and Antonio had to get any work, that would his class would do that week, done early. Antonio didn't mind. He had always liked school anyways._

_He had been rounding the corner to go the library until next period started when he caught a muffled yelp and then a small group of voices. All of them were threatening someone. Antonio frowned. He never had liked bullies. Bullying, he thought, gets its name from bullshit, I swear. _

"_Piss off-oof!" Antonio's eyes widened as he finally recognized the voice. That was the new kid in his homeroom. _

_**What was his name?**_

Arthur_, he remembered. _Arthur's British, he didn't get along with most of everyone because he didn't understand American traditions very well_. Like the pledge, he refused to stand, saying he still owed his allegiance to the Queen and no one else. _

_Then, there was the lunch incident. Someone had called him names for drinking tea. He had told them off and landed in the principal's office. But he respected his teachers, for the most part, and did well in all of his studies. He had even looked into the soccer team. _

_That was how Antonio had really met him, besides learning his name in homeroom. The soccer team, Antonio recalled as he started into a run. He's really good at soccer. Coach said to look after him. I gotta help him!_

_Antonio rounded the corner right as he saw Arthur fall down. Ire spiked his blood as he called out, "Hey! Not cool, amigos!" The other boys turned around, and Antonio felt more ire go through him as he saw they were from the upper class. Their supposed "role models" were the ones setting a bad example. Antonio decided to show them how a good student dealt with bullies._

_He patted his pocket. Pass, check, he noticed. He thought up a sob story in case he got caught, check. After a small look at Arthur, one that showed Arthur rubbing blood off a split lip and trying to hide a growing bruise on his cheek. Check, he thought, I can plead self-defense. _

_He smiled, as he chuckled. _

**Years of mixed martial arts were about to pay off.**

_Arthur blinked as the last bully ran off, well limped off, really. That leg would take some time to heal. And luckily, Antonio had taken a few hits, not major ones, but a few to proclaim his self-defense and with Arthur, they would win their defense case easily. _

_Antonio knew those kids anyways. They were always starting fights. They had a record. He thought he remembered hearing a rumor about them being on their last strike and needed one more incident to be sent to a reform school._

_He smiled, as he helped Arthur to his feet gently. He helped dust the other off, but when the English young man asked, "Why did you help me, you git? You could've been seriously hurt!" Antonio smiled, knowing the other was referring to the hits he had seen Antonio had taken. Antonio giggled, "I'll explain when we get to the library and Ms. Leon, okay?"_

_Arthur had a slight limp, from a bad bruise on his leg, Ms. Leon, the nurse, had identified. It was a few days old, showing Arthur had been bullied for a while. Antonio stacked that against the bullies in his mind. They were so going to win this case._

_Sure enough, Arthur found Antonio outside, during lunch, one day and told him so. "You ingenious, bloody moron, you let yourself get hurt to plead self-defense!" Antonio smiled as he kicked the soccer ball from knee to knee. "They're getting sent to a reform school."_

"_Si," he said, smiling. "I don't like bullies and I pull advantages when I can." Arthur was silent as Antonio continued to kick the ball around. _

"_Err, thank you, for that…uh…"_

"_Antonio," the Spaniard filled in, and Arthur nodded, mentally rolling that off his tongue. "Thank you, Antonio." The Spaniard smiled, and then said, "Want to play a game? We still have half an hour before lunch ends."_

_Arthur blinked, "How did you—"_

_Antonio giggled, "I remember from when you tried to ask if there were empty positions on the soccer team. You play really well." Arthur huffed, crossing his arms. "The Queen accepts no less of me, I am her loyal English acolyte." _

_Antonio laughed, letting the soccer ball fall to the ground, and putting a foot over it. "Well? Are we going to play or what?" Arthur smirked, the first time Antonio had seen it, a warm feeling surging through him, "Winner takes all?"_

_Antonio smirked back. "I wouldn't mind a new shadow~"_

_A few games later, both boys were laughing. It didn't occur to them, they had played to a tie until the school lunch bell rang and they had to go back to homeroom. However, upon getting back, their teacher sent them outside. _

_Antonio and Arthur saw it as another opportunity to settle their bet and once more, the soccer ball went flying. They didn't even realize they had drawn a crowd, didn't notice groups of children were rooting for one or the other, and sure didn't notice how often they were laughing when they found they didn't' know the score— but the crowd did, from paying such close attention._

Antonio sighed, head down, as he recalled that fond memory. He thought of the soccer ball in his closet. The very reason he didn't play as much as he liked. _Too many memories_, he thought in explanation. _Too many opportunities to get lost back in the pain._

"What happened next?" Lovino asked and his voice was actually soft. He was having memories of his own. Antonio thought back, "There was the school dance…"

_Antonio was stuck in a crowd, or willingly stuck in the middle of it, dancing with a bunch of random girls and few of his closer friends. His green eyes were bright with happiness as the afternoon melted to somewhat near sunset. Then, he remembered he hadn't seen Arthur at all during the whole thing._

_It took a bit of effort to get out, and then more to lose the few girls that tailed him, but he found it worth it when he found Arthur leaning against the brick wall outside. He surprised him, "Hola~!"_

_Arthur jumped, his gum bubble popping suddenly and, thankfully, not going farther than his mouth and the tip of his nose. Antonio snickered and Arthur rolled his eyes and pulled it off, rolling it up in its wrapper and throwing it away. He muttered how tasteless the American gum had been anyways, and then said, "What do you want, wanker?"_

_Antonio hummed, cocking his head, as he recognized the British slang. "Did you just call me a whore or a masturbator?" Arthur let out a small sound, a choke on air, possibly, and then scoffed. "So, you know British, is it?" He smirked at the other, seemingly impressed. "Good one, Spaniard. But I know you didn't come all the way out here to show me you knew what that meant. What do you want?"_

_Antonio smiled, 'You're right. Dance with me." Arthur blinked and then looked away. It wasn't that he wasn't good at dancing. No, it was that he didn't feel comfortable, dancing in a crowd of people, that although loved him because Antonio was his friend, it was because he didn't think Antonio would like him if he knew what was keeping the English young man in the first place. What had made the bullies pick on him in the first place once they had found out._

_Arthur was gay. He didn't want Antonio, pretty much his only friend or at least the only one he would dare call a friend out of the whole school, to laugh at him. He didn't want the other to make fun of him or think he was an abominable creature. He didn't want to lose the only friend he had…_

"_What if," he bit his lip, "I don't want to?"_

"_What, are you gay?" Arthur's head whipped over so fast, his heart pounding so hard, it hurt, face red in embarrassment. Was it, that obvious?_

_Antonio smiled in realization. His trick had worked. He had wondered if Arthur was for a while now. He had wanted to ask him a few things… "Its okay, Arthur, I don't care."_

_Arthur was shaking his head. He had lost the only friend he had. Bloody Hell, could it get any worse? "No, you don't understand. You say that, but mean—"_

"_I am too," Arthur's neck was going to be sore if he kept up with this sudden whiplash thing. "Are you fucking serious?" _

_Antonio smiled, shrugging. "Everyone here pretty much thinks I'm bi, but I'm not. I just like flirting~" Arthur's face reddened. So, that was what it was…At least, last Monday was cleared up. That had been embarrassing…_

"_So, you wanna dance, now?" Antonio asked again, trying to take Arthur's hand. The English young man's face burned slightly but he nodded stiffly, still expecting Antonio to shout, "Ha! You are so gullible! I was lying!"_

"_Stop tensing up," Antonio said and Arthur looked up. Had he really been that scared? "I won't hurt you. I promise." Arthur was right about to crack a real smile until Antonio teased, "Well, unless you try to hurt me, first. Then I'm going to get you back in the worst way."_

_Arthur just stared as Antonio led him, laughing, to the gymnasium where the dance was being held. _

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

"How did that go?" Lovino asked, and Antonio let out a small smile. "It went well. Arthur dances like a girl would." He laughed, bitterly. "He kind of told the whole school that part of him, then, but since he was with me, my friend, anyways, no one tried to tease him or get on him about it."

Lovino nodded. "So how did you guys become a… a couple?" Antonio thought. "I was at his house, he could only come over to my house, we decided, mi mama, me and Arthur, unless my bastard-of-a-father wasn't there. He didn't like the British too much, then."

Lovino nodded, but the question still nagged at his mind from earlier. "But how did Isabella come to be?" Antonio's eyes darkened.

"You were building up for that, weren't you?" he asked, and it didn't surprise him when the Italian nodded. "I want to know what split you two up and why you never told about Isabella sooner," he said, "Is she from an old girlfriend before you guys dated?"

Antonio shook his head. "No. We, Arthur and I, got together somewhere in the middle or end of the eighth grade year. I think that's when we made it public, or at least, I did."

Lovino's eyes narrowed, but his tone was teasing. "What did you do?"

Antonio pressed his lips into a thin line, looked out the window. "Uh, it wasn't anything serious. I just kissed his cheek, passing by." His face was red, nonetheless. "I don't see why the crowd went so girly back then, though."

Lovino had an idea what "girly" might have meant. Some of the girls were crying as they saw their chances lost. Some girls, the creeper ones, were giggling and one was probably trying to take pictures or something. And there would be the guys laughing, if not, stupefied, or that one or two guys thinking why hadn't it been them…

**Yeah, he had an idea what "girly" meant.**

"But," Antonio said, "even though, it was known at school, it wasn't necessarily known at home." Lovino frowned, "Your dad?"

Antonio grimly nodded. "Si, he was a strict Catholic when he wanted to be. He wanted nothing to do with gays. He…wouldn't have had been happy knowing I had been, when I was leading him to believe I wasn't…"

Lovino frowned, eyes bordering on a glare. "You what?" Antonio quickly defended himself. "I didn't think it all the way through, alright? I know it was wrong."

Lovino was about to jump up from his chair, indignant. He bit his lip for a moment, but continued, "You've seen her, before. She comes over, sort of, often. I helped her move down the street so she and Isabella could be closer."

He looked away from Lovino's amber eyes. He sighed, getting a bit angry. It wasn't at Lovino, it was at himself. He should have thought this through. "I hadn't told her everything about me and Arthur, but I gave her enough to know that I did love her in a way, it wasn't nearly as much as she loved me."

Antonio continued, his tone getting continuously darker. "She said it wouldn't matter, just as long as I still had love for her, she didn't care." He looked at Lovino, and the other sat down as he saw the pitiful look in the other's eyes. "I tried, Lovino, to love her. I did everything. I did…some things I'm not too proud of to make myself worthy of her saying she loved me."

Antonio was silent and Lovino filled in the silence, "Whilst you still loved Arthur." Antonio nodded, grimly, not even meeting the other's eyes. "You didn't tell Arthur, did you?" a shake of the head and then a small, "I didn't want him to think I was ashamed of loving him. But then…"

Antonio let out a sound of anger. "But then, my actions came to bitch-slap me across the face."

A tear made it past his face, and Lovino could finally see why Arthur was such a touchy subject with him. So many precautions and ties to make it work and last forever and it still burnt him…all because of those very connections…

"Selina called me, one day, and…" Antonio had to bite his lip. Lovino said it for him, already knowing about Antonio's habit to never actually be there to answer his phone and one of his friends always having to answer it for him. "Arthur answered your phone, didn't he?"

Antonio choked on an up-coming sob, gripping his head and throwing it back to bang not-so nicely against the counters behind him. "She had thought that it was me who answered the phone, that Arthur was me, and said she was pregnant and that she was sorry and not to tell Arthur…"

_She had been crying_, he remembered. _She had thought I would be mad at her for something that was my fault anyway_. _My entire fault, it wasn't hers at all_. _I was stupid._

**Estúpido.**

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

"_I'm s-so sorry, Tonio…I-I didn't think this would ha-happen," Selina sobbed on the end, Arthur's brow furrowed as he pulled himself away from his keyboard. The talent show was today, and Arthur was filling in for Roderich who couldn't come because of his mother. But who was this? Was it another band member?_

_At this rate, it was only going to be Antonio playing the song. Arthur wasn't as fast as Antonio when it came to playing. He preferred slower tunes and melodies. He didn't mind its length, just how fast it was. _

_He inwardly sighed, and tried to think of a way to convince the possible other band member on the line that it was fine that they couldn't come. But then again, they had sounded an awfully lot like a girl. Antonio didn't have a girl in his band…did he?_

"_I-I'm so s-sorry! Please don't tell Arthur, I don't want him to know!" Those were the words that made Arthur's blood seize in his veins. He had yet to speak, and now he didn't know whether to hang up or tell them it was actually him on the phone, listening, not Antonio. "I'm s-sorry, Antonio…" A sob, "I didn't…I…I'm pregnant."_

_Arthur was silent, his face pale and his green eyes wide. Her words started to sink in. Pregnant, the girl, she was pregnant with Antonio's baby? But, he thought, as he felt his wonderful world crumble to bits and slip through his fingers. Everything, he thought, it all had gone so well…was it all just a lie?_

_A fucking game to him, Arthur thought angrily. He heard the girl babble on the other end on how far along she was and how much she was sorry but Arthur didn't hear her. He just saw Antonio's head come into view, from talking to a few girls. He was flirting, Arthur realized, she's probably one of them! _

_He was ready to just jump out and start a full-fledged fight with the Spaniard. Despite how he knew how he wouldn't win. He had never really seemed to ever dominate the other in anything. Antonio had almost always been on top or in charge of it. _

_And-and Arthur had simply let him! He had really thought the other actually gave a damn! He had really thought the other loved him…He had done everything! He had given everything! Everything, that Antonio had asked of him and eve things he didn't ask for, verbally! _

_Tears were pricking his eyes as ire built in him. Pure, unadulterated, rage was burning though his blood. He had let Antonio have nearly his first everything! First person he told- Antonio. First friend-Antonio. First dance-Antonio. First date-Antonio. First real kiss-Antonio. First make-out-Antonio. First love-Antonio. First time…he had only slept with Antonio…_

_And this motherfucker had probably slept with a dozen girls and had one calling his phone to tell him she was pregnant with his own child? _

_Arthur was seething, as he abruptly ended the call. He rose up, rushed, as he glared down at his feet, eyes burning with tears. He was probably making plans with those girls for his own pleasure, not even knowing about that poor other girl._

**He was doing it right in front of his damned face!**

"_I hate you," he whispered as the first tear fell. Antonio waved good-bye to the girls, one promising to call him later. He looked up from his feet as he heard Antonio approach. Here was his chance to get revenge. Suspension or expelling be damned, that bastard had lied to him._

"_Arthur~" Antonio beamed as he came closer, the Spaniard spied his phone. "Hey, is that my phone? I was wondering where it went to~" Then he was opening his arms for a hug. "How is mi favorito de ingles?"_

**Arthur struck.**

"_I hate you!_" he had cried as he swung back his leg, "_Leave me alone, you bloody git!"Antonio ducked, reacting quickly. But his face was one of horror, as was the few kids in the distance. One girl, one of the earlier group he had promised to keep in touch with after telling them he was moving upstate, came back. She started calling something behind her. _

"_You're a stupid fag! Leave me alone!" Arthur had yelled, in anger, and before Antonio could even react, not only did tears fall from the young Brit's eyes, but a punch was delivered to Antonio's face and he fell backwards. "I fucking hate you!"_

**He hadn't even seen it coming and neither did anyone else…**

_Hate? He pushed himself up on his arms, hoping he hadn't heard what he had just heard or that he could just die as the other band members turned around at their other member's argument. "Hate me…?" He had repeated. But he, he had said 'I love you' just a few minutes ago. What happened? _

**What could have—**

_His now ex-love and world was seething as he swung back his foot. "I hate you! Get out of my fucking face, you bloody g—"_

_**What had he done wrong…?**_

_His eyes burned as he caught the foot, so it wouldn't hit him, and threw the other to the ground with a sudden yelp as he pulled himself to his own feet and ran away. _

_He ran away, tears falling freely as he kept repeating the same Spanish phrase over and over even as those around him called out his name. He heard his band mates call out for him to come back but that same phrase kept falling from his lips._

"_**Como quieras, yo nunca te dejaré ver mi cara de nuevo ..."**_

"_As you wish, I will never let you see my face again..."_

**What had he done wrong?**

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

_Nothing but love him, he countered in his mind. I had only loved him. He came to a stop as his phone vibrated and rang in his pocket. Numerous people had called him. A lot of them were calling him right now. He ignored them. _

_People were texting him. Two texts seemingly coming at once, every second, more were coming and assaulting his inbox. They were just coming from seemingly nowhere, all asking what had happened and what was wrong and why was Arthur crying._

_But Antonio didn't know. He didn't know what he had done wrong! _

**What had he done wrong?**

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

**[LOVINO]**

He stared at the broken Antonio in front of him, openly sobbing. He stood, not even knowing he had done or admitting to himself that he saw a bit of himself in how the Spaniard was crying. He looked broken, crying over a mistake that he was responsible for but one mistake to lead to his ultimate downfall.

"Shut up, bastardo," he said, trying to hug the taller male. "Stop crying like a damn bitch," he snapped, but inwardly, he knew the other had held all of his tears for so long. He was finally getting rid of years of tears. He was going to finally get better.

**Just like Lovino was getting better.**

Lovino listened to the other sob for a little while longer. Then, he sighed, and just hugged the Spaniard. "Its okay, Antonio, stop crying…" He bit his lip and then said, "I'm not mad." _Not by much_, he thought, _at least you didn't lie_ _**to me**_.

Antonio sniffled, "R-really?" Lovino tried to grin like he usually would, but he felt a small and genuine smile come instead. "I don't agree with what you did but I won't hold it against you."

Antonio's shoulders slumped, "I'm sure Arthur does, though…"

Lovino shook his head, "He didn't get pissed when we were talking about you. He was saying that he wanted to apologize, actually." _Okay, I kind of fudged his words a bit,_ he thought, _but whatever._

"Really?" Lovino saw the Spaniard's face brighten more, emerald eyes lightening up at the thought of forgiveness. But then that light dimmed and Lovino frowned as Antonio looked down at the floor. "I can't undo his hurt or any of the pain I caused him. I can't even get my own father to look me in the eyes anymore…"

Lovino felt some spite come through him as he took Antonio's face in his hands. "Shut the fuck up. Stop crying, you need to stop bitching, and stop whining over the past." Lovino heard some of Gilbert's words own words come through him. "You can't undo your past. It makes you who you are. Get over it. It's your past. You're not supposed to be proud of all you've done, only enough to know what you lived through wasn't for pure shit."

Lovino saw some of his own reaction, anger and spite. "But, what if I can't get over it? What if it's—" Lovino did what Gilbert should done to him instead of letting his anger over his past push him further. "No, stop it, you're doing it, just now." Antonio blinked and Lovino continued, "You nearly let your past be your master and control your future."

Antonio blinked again. Lovino, seeing he still had Antonio's attention, leaned up on his toes and gently pressed his lips to the Spaniard's. "Make your past your bitch, Antonio. Give it the orders to shut up and stay your past. Don't let it be your future."

Antonio was silent and Lovino said nothing, he just held his head under the Spaniard's chin and just closed his eyes. Wondering what would have happened had he hadn't snapped at Gilbert, had Gilbert stopped him from letting his anger over his past try to take his future.

His past had nearly won. If by winning, it made Lovino see Gilbert just throwing up and leaving. He had his hands up and had left, saying he wasn't going to be someone who couldn't even get over their own scars.

Who, instead of admitting it was their past and trying to see their past mistakes differently, as opportunities, was going to blame everyone else for it or simply not get over it at all and nearly break every time someone tried to help.

He wondered what would have happened if Gilbert had said that. He wondered what would have happened had Gilbert just stayed instead of leaving him alone when he needed him to be there most.

Lovino shook himself from his thoughts. _Too late to change that now_, he thought as he heard Antonio sigh and wrap his arms around his waist. "I'm sorry, Lovi…"

Lovino thought his good deed for the week was accomplished when he heard his nickname come off Antonio's lips. _Good_, he thought_, I can go back to being mean. Being nice and wise is a shitload of effort. No wonder the potato bastard is so serious. _

Then he inwardly winced at his earlier though_. Ugh, did I just think that. _"Whatever, bastard, now get up and let Toby in, She's probably pissed about having the door slammed in her face."

Antonio jumped up, and Lovino suddenly found his middle colliding with the counter. Amber eyes wide, he turned around as he heard Antonio say, "Oh my God! I slammed the door in her face!"

He saw the Spaniard bend to gather the turtle in his arms. Toby glared at him, even snapped at his finger during Antonio's feverish apology. "Lo siento, Toby. Papa didn't mean to be so mean to you! Will you forgive me?"

Toby was silent and then ducked inside her shell. Antonio blinked and his eyes moist. "You won't forgive your daddy?" He leant his head in and then Toby struck—snapping at his nose. The Spaniard had tears. "Ow, ow, ow! Lovi, don't just stand there! Help! Ow, Toby, that hurt!"

Lovino continued laughing as Toby pulled away from Antonio's nose, leaving a slight red mark. It wasn't bleeding. Toby wasn't a snapping turtle; only at heart could it be what it thought it was.

Lovino walked over to the pair, taking his turtle and kissing its head. "Good, bambino. Bite the morons~" Toby smiled and Antonio said in the background, "You both have a vendetta against me, I swear. First, the incident when Lovino jumped over the couch and hurt me and now this…"

Lovino's face reddened, "I said I was sorry for that, like a hundred times!" Antonio's turn to laugh came, as he ruffled Lovino's hair and then kissed Toby's head though it attempted to snap at him again for touching it so soon. "It's bueno, Lovi. I'm not mad…"

Lovino heard the slight tone change and looked at Antonio, just in time to see Antonio's green eyes gleam in the late moonlight streaming through the window above the sink. "I'm not mad, anymore…"

Lovino felt himself smile as Toby looked between them confused. "I'm glad," Lovino said and then Antonio smiled, just before reverting back to his old self.

"Now, off to bed! I have an important visit to make in the morning!" Antonio swept Lovino into his arms, proceeding to carry a certain angry and embarrassed Italian, bridal-style, and adopted turtle, upstairs.

"Wh-what the fuck, bastardo?" Lovino snapped, "Put me down!" Antonio laughed as he dropped Lovino on the bed, unceremoniously. "There you go~"

Lovino grunted, "Bastard." He didn't see Antonio lean down and whisper huskily in his ear, in a language Lovino knew very well as his native tongue, Italian, "But aren't I your bastard?"

Lovino's face flushed, but he managed, "N-not around, Toby. I don't want him s-seeing anything. He's still a b-bambino." Antonio smiled and taking said turtle and happily kicking it out of the room, twice in that night.

Then he turned back to Lovino, locking the door soundly behind him. "Now, for my thanks for helping me through my personal ordeal, downstairs~" Green eyes were dark with lust, as Lovino mentally berated himself for his earlier thought-to-be good deed in helping the Spaniard. "Si, mi tomate?"

"Ch-chigi…"

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

Ha! No smut for you~ As much as I love Spamano, and having fun writing their smut, I will not put any smut in this story.

So there(:

I hope you guys still love me other wise and I hope the ending of this chapter wasn't too sapp.y Next chapter, me meet the adorable Isabella, and Selina, who is not an OC, she is Seychelles, an actual character. I can't stand OCs…

Oh! And before I forget, you guys are going to kill me next chapter. I won't tell you what for. I'll let you decide~

Until then—

**READ AND ****REVIEW****.**


	9. M Warning

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!

CHIGI!

FUCK!

NOT-FUCKING-AWESOME!

Verdamnt!

*Every other swears word should be inserted here!*

Oh my fucking Gosh, I guys, I just got wind of this from one of my favorite authors, TheRussianRose, please thank her. Shit!

FFnet is apparently doing this huge-ass fucking purge of M-rated fictions! Shit! I have like 3 Ms! Accounts or stories, shit, will be suddenly deleted! Shit!

I am soooo sorry, for this, guys! I love you all! And should something happen to me, or my account, because of my other stories, I want you guys to know I still love you. I loved every single fucking review I got in my email!

Fuck!

However, if my stories don't get the chopping block, but I'm sure they will, I will continue to post but will be a bit…cautious with what I post up. Oh my fucking gosh, I am sooo sorry, guys! D:

I totally did not know about this until TRR told me when she updated her own story. I wish I knew why they were doing this! Believe me, I do.

But um, yeah, I am like, totally crying right now. I am, I might go to WordPress to post my fictions there safely without the threat of deletion, but guys, I am like totally scared.

I am posting this to all my stories, completed or not, T or M, simply to give a warning should my stories or I vanish…

I'm pretty sure I won't be like Poland and just rise up in the end like some damn fire bird or whatever, I'm really scared. *wipes eyes*

I'm really sorry, guys.

~BrooklynBabbii


	10. Isabella

**In-Tune**

Rating: T

Summary: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

BrooklynBabbii

Author Alert:

Story alert/ Favorites: ** Alexia-Esco, AnimeCompletesYourLife, RandomWriter57, FreedomFighter50**

Reviewer(s)!: ** Lovi's Tomato Lover(2), Alexia-Esco, Lady-Pyrien, NaruIchi**

Lovi's Tomato Lover: (Toby: My mom, adorable? Don't let my idiot of a dad hear that… And thank you for complimenting my bite. I try~ Again, the marriage? Mom might not even throw rocks…she will run you down the road with a tractor! DX)

And I apologize for the lack of Spamano these last few chapters. At least you saw a glimpse of smut, ja? And Toby, you're underage! Romano would kill me if he found I let you see anything resembling porn! (I can see Spain with a kid or two, but not with a girl…unless it's a fem!Romano…wait, does that even exist? Never mind…)

I'm sorry about your kitty. QxQ I don't like cats much, I'm a big dog person, cats scare me…it's the eyes! They watch you at night like Hungary! XD

When you read this chapter, don't kill me. Don't spam me either with a virus. Toby has no girlfriend…yet, Romano keeps killing them all. However, it is sad and it does involve Isabella. Thanks for the words of good luck! In Ireland, you would be arrested! :D

Lovi's Tomato Lover (2): Please stop crying! You can hold Toby if you stop crying! He has a community now! You can visit him!

Alexia-Esco: Thank you and you read this all in one go? Sounds like something I do! Thank you for reviewing!

AnimeCompletesYourLife: Yes, yes, it very much does~ XD

Lady-Pyrien: Hehe, I do think you are the first to point it out~ That was on purpose!

RandomWriter57: LOL, everyone wants a Toby, now~ And Feli shall return, I promise! I shall try my best to meet your expectations! *salutes back*

NaruIchi: You're welcome. And thank you for your words of comfort.

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

**.:Chapter Nine:.**

**[ANTONIO]**

It had been a few months since he had told Lovino about…that part of his past. It seemed like Lovino had taken it well. Selina seemed to like Lovino, at least in his eyes, and Isabella just adored the Italian. But still…This was his first time introducing Isabella to someone like Lovino. He tried not to worry, but his paternal instincts came up and he ended up a nervous wreck. It wasn't his fault. _He blamed…_

_Damn_, he thought, _he realized he had no one to blame for this_. Slamming his head into the kitchen table, he muttered, "Crap."

Lovino walked in, already dressed in a slim sepia V-neck shirt and a pair of light tan shorts. His hair still dripped slightly as he stole a tomato from off the basket. "What are you going on about now, bastard?"

First things first, he thought, as he lifted his head to say, "You can't say that in front of Isabella, or any of your other swears," then he emphasized, "Italian or otherwise." Antonio's face was completely serious and Lovino said nothing as he chewed the red fruit in his mouth. After swallowing, he sighed lightly, "Fine then, whatever, it's your kid."

Antonio started to smile and then his smile faltered as he realized he had forgotten the date. "Lovi, crap, what day is today?" Lovino raised a brow, not really understanding why the Spaniard was panicking so much over such a small thing.

He glanced at the calendar, taking a bite of his tomato again, "Uh, April twenty-seventh." He watched as the Spaniard bolted from the table, knocking over his chair and taking the stairs in leaps and bounds.

What the fuck, the Italian pop artist thought, as he voiced his thoughts aloud. "What the fuck, Antonio?" Said Spaniard called back as he dug through his drawers for something decent for him to wear. "Crap-crap-crap-_crap_, it's today!"

"What's today?" Lovino asked, nodding to Toby sunbathing on the tiled floor right in front of the back door to the backyard. Seeing that the turtle was fine for now, he sighed and jogged up the stairs. Taking two at a time, and still managing to eat his tomato at the same time, he made it to the top of the stairs just in time to see a frantic Antonio giving him a worried smile.

The Spaniard shoved a hundred dollars into Lovino's hands, shocking the Italian. He knew that the other made a lot of money from his job at the university, but to just hand off money, that was kind of ridiculous for him. "Lovino, could you do me a favor? Can you go the toy store and buy something cute and nice for Isabella?"

The Spaniard seemed to pause and then he took the hundred bill back and shoved his black debit card in Lovino's hands, instead. "I take that back, something really nice, money is not a consideration for my little girl."

Lovino blinked, as Antonio went back into their shared room to pick out an outfit. Then, he frowned as he pocketed the card, "Why am I doing this again?" Honestly, it was just a little girl; he didn't see the need to give him his bank card. That meant anything over a hundred dollars was acceptable and the more expensive the better.

"It's her birthday, Antonio responded, "Selina is going to expect nothing but the best." Lovino blinked, and then he yelled, "And you just think about this now!" Antonio whined from inside of the room, torn between his green polo or the red silk dress shirt. "I'm sorry, lo siento, Lovi, it just came to mind, I swear!"

Lovino sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Whatever, whatever, bastard," he said, and then thought about it. "I need her sizes—

"Shirt is four, pants is six." Antonio said, before he could finish as he threw the red dress shirt back and dug for a pair of shorts. Lovino raised a brow. "Why did you toss the shirt?"

Antonio looked up, surprised. "Isabella says she likes it better when I wear green." Lovino nodded, he wouldn't admit it, but he thought so too.

"I'll be back," he said over his shoulder.

"Hurry," Antonio said, as he started his sprint to the bathroom. "I'll be ready in under an hour and then I'll text Selina to find out when Isabella gets out of school today." Lovino nodded, and then he thought of something, just for fun. He gave Antonio a faux worried look, "Uh, Antonio…it's Saturday."

That was the second day in their whole relationship that he heard Antonio swear. But this time, Lovino laughed as he walked downstairs. He would tell the bastard later, it was actually Friday.

Maybe.

**[LOVINO]**

He looked over the cutesy shirts and skirts in the little girls' section. Personally, he found the punk rocker things better looking than the pink and frillier ones. He frowned, as he flipped further through the designer clothes.

Then, it dawned on him. He had stolen Selina's number, not technically stealing since he was bound to ask for it or get it sometime. He scrolled through his contact list, thinking, and then pressed on her icon. He brought the phone to his ear and waited as it rung.

He and Selina had talked a few times, and for the most part, they got along. The both of them liked tomatoes, disliked Germans, and found various people annoying and worthy of kicking off the planet. Selina had a small problem with trusting others, as she had told him that people tend to think lowly of her since she had been a teenage mother.

Lovino helped her get over those negative views of herself and she helped him to get in better with Antonio. It seemed to be a win-win situation. She liked swimming and was willing to teach him when she found he didn't really know how. She was a really nice woman.

She even offered to teach him some new recipes to cook at home if he could just visit her every once in a while. She had seen how attached Isabella had become to the Italian and how the little girl actually knew who he was as Romano.

So, here Lovino was, in a designer clothes shop, in the little girls' section, talking to Selina about Isabella, while people stared at him. One woman whispered, "Someone please tell me he's not taken…please."

Lovino looked up, and saying something into the mouthpiece, he looked over to the punk rocker section once more. "I told you the bambino liked punk more. She takes after me, after all." Inwardly, he was laughing at how close to tears a few of the women looked once the words left his mouth. He had to smirk.

"Right, right, and now," Lovino replied to Selina and then he scoffed. "She's getting older; she doesn't want to be a princess forever. She'd rather be a pop star like me." A whimper from across the room, and Selina said something.

Lovino smirked, "Hey, if the little bambino wants to wear it, it's fine by me; as long as she doesn't decide that she wants a piercing. Then, I'm going to have to tell her Hell no." A woman nodded, and whispered, "He's a good dad." A few women nodded, but that one woman looked like she was still about to cry, sniffling as she looked through the jeans for teens.

Lovino ended the call sometime later, feeling better as he picked out several punk rocker outfits and pair of black boots with a silver chain-led zipper. After checkout, he ventured through town, to the toy store to find the other things Selina mentioned that Isabella liked.

The little girl was into music, and punk rock. She loved tomatoes and adored animals. She liked to draw things off her favorite Japanese animes. She didn't like pink much, unless it was candy, then she had no problem in taking it. She also did not like anything to do with princesses much. Selina said she had outgrown the princess adoration phase.

And so, with Antonio's card, he ended up buying her a tomato plush toy, and a small children's keyboard piano. He was right about to stop when he saw the tomato charm bracelets. After a few seconds of inner debating, he took one for himself. After a few seconds, he realized the packets came in groups of four. He grinned, as he thought of them wearing the bracelets: him, Antonio, Selina and little Isabella.

He couldn't help but laugh as he walked to the checkout. That was funny to think about as he waited in line and looked at the gossip magazines and shook his head disapprovingly as he read about how Feliciano had been caught holding a blue-eyed baby boy with auburn hair, most likely, the potato bastard's nephew, Aiden.

Though he had to admit, Feliciano looked a bit too happy (or as the magazine put it: "_comfortable_") with Aiden as he was caught in a photo playing soccer with Ludwig. He inwardly smiled, at least he was happy.

He also plotted how long it was going to take the paparazzi to catch him with Isabella and Antonio. _Not long, probably._

He made it home just as Antonio was fussing with Toby to put on a party hat. The turtle had his stubbornness and was adamantly hiding under the couch despite Antonio's best efforts with slices of tomato and the party hat in his other hand.

Lovino shook his head, as he thought, _and I love this idiot?_

Antonio looked up, almost appearing defeated as he just ate the tomato slice. Muttering something under his breath, he groaned, "Why won't you wear the party hat? It even has red dots to look like tomatoes, Toby, why not?"

The turtle glared at him and hunched further in its shell under the couch. Lovino suddenly made his presence known as he said, "Oi, bastard, the stuff needs to be wrapped." Antonio's head snapped up and he grinned at Lovino, making said Italian's heart race a bit faster and his face dust a light pink.

"Gracias, Lovi, gracias, gracias, gracias!" The Spaniard hugged him, and Lovino snorted. He puffed his cheeks and let out a long stretch of hair. "Okay, we have, like, an hour until two, can you go ahead and let me the fuck go?"

Antonio nodded and then quickly set him down on his feet to race to retrieve the presents for wrapping. Lovino walked to the couch, and knelt to see Toby. "Get out of there or I'm going to make you." Toby poked its head out and, upon seeing it was only Lovino, came out as quickly as it was able.

Lovino sighed, "What am I going to do with you?" Toby wagged its tail, seemingly grinning. Its eyes seeming to say, "_Kick the bastardo's ass, right?"_

Lovino narrowed his eyes, "No, violence, bambi…" His eyes widened, as his lips stopped. Toby continued to watch its tail…or rather, his tail. Lovino checked the turtle's back again. Those specific marking stared back at him. Toby wasn't a girl. His spots were different. "Wait, you're a boy?"

Antonio popped back in, tape on his face and pieces of wrapping paper stuck to his chin. He raised a brow, "You didn't know that?" Lovino's face darkened. "Nobody asked you!"

Antonio laughed as he went back to wrapping the gifts. And then his voice came again, "Can I have the receipts?" Lovino frowned, but he nodded as he dug through his pocket and pulled the card and all the receipts he had from his shopping for Isabella.

Antonio took one look at it and he giggled. Lovino frowned, as he flicked Toby's leg as said turtle attempted to bite his finger for simply to do in the Italian's arms. Antonio smiled, "You spent less than I thought you would."

Lovino frowned further, "Was I supposed to buy her a car?" Antonio nearly panicked, "she wanted a little car?" Lovino sighed as the daddy Spaniard looked at the gifts on their kitchen table, half of them wrapped perfectly and lying in a neat stack by the wall and the others waiting for the same treatment. Antonio whimpered, close to tears, "She wanted a car, I didn't know…"

Lovino wanted to slap the Spaniard across the back of his head. In fact, he did. Antonio yelped and then said, "What was that for?"

Lovino shook his head, "Idiot, I was kidding. Isabella is too young to drive."

"They make mini cars for kids, Lovino," Antonio said and Lovino blinked. Toby continued to play with the Italian's finger over his face. "Really? Since fucking when?" Antonio thought about it, "Um, I don't know when, I think I started noticing them when I was in late high school."

Lovino nodded and then frowned, "How old are you?"

Antonio answered with little hesitation, "Nearly twenty-sex, why?" Lovino felt so young all of sudden, he was only turning twenty-three this year. So he said the first thing to come to mind, "Fucking Pedophile…"

He turned on his heel with a gift, the keyboard and made his way to the front door. Selina's house was just down the street. He was walking this.

Just as he came to the door, he was met with a familiar face, his amber eyes widened and then narrowed, "What the fucking Hell are you doing here?"

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

Um, I decided against the whole bad ending chapter. I was like: "Fuck it" and decided to just give this story a slightly less tear-inducing twist instead.

Cliff hangers, they're an author's best friend in crime.

^_^ Hope it's well-liked.

If you're not totally mad at me—

**READ AND ****REVIEW****.**


	11. The Burns and Breaks

**In-Tune**

Rating: T

Summary: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

BrooklynBabbii

Author Alert:

Story alert/ Favorites: ** Oceanfur**

Reviewer(s)!: **Lovi's Tomato Lover, Shockwave(2), Lady-Pyrien, Oceanfur**

Lovi's Tomato Lover: O_O *Toby puts on hat, slowly* I'm glad you liked the market scene. (Prussia: My eyes are not RED, they're MAROON. *scoff* Get it right.)

Shockwave: Isabella is your name? O/O I seriously did not know! I hope you don't mind sharing! I'm sorry, Toby is already taken. But I shall consider getting Toma(XD) a friend. Slow and steady murder...that's hilarious!

Lady-Pyrien: Yea, I have one of your reviewers! I'm getting more well-known~ In Tune does need more love. SpaMano in general needs more love.

Oceanfur: -_- Everyone loves Toby…damn it. *facepalm* Your favorite Hetalia character isn't even canon? *facedesk* Toby has a community now, guys, go find him and spam Lady-Prien. XD Thank you, and yeah, new stalker! (I'm so twisted…)

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

**.:Chapter Ten:.**

**[ANTONIO]**

The Spaniard stared at Lovino's retreating form, confused. He was turning twenty-six. Why was that a bad thing? Isabella was going on a few years old. She was in second grade, right? He wasn't that old…

He bit his lip, as he thought that maybe-just maybe- Lovino might have a tendency to distrust those older than him. He claimed to know the young male, he didn't even know about this. His shoulders began to slump slightly, as he wrapped a triangle-folded edge of paper over a box. Maybe Lovino didn't like him after all. Not as much as he had used to, he thought, his fingers slowing down.

After he had told his past, he realized with a feeling of dejection. Maybe Lovino had thing against older men with children. He recalled that past ex-boyfriend of Lovino's, the one who had seemed intent of yelling at him in some language he didn't understand. He seemed young, and like he didn't have kids.

Antonio bit his lip, he knew he looked young. Women were constantly approaching him, despite how he didn't really feel anything towards them. Sure, they were some beautiful women. But, he didn't feel for them the way he felt for Lovino. He had only felt this way, this warm happiness for Lovino…

…and Arthur, a part of his mind reminded. Just because he didn't feel that way now, that didn't mean that his feelings hadn't ever existed.

He paused, eying the box in his hands. It was sloppily wrapped and he sighed. He tore off the wrapping paper to start over, when he caught the sound of raised voices. Specifically, he caught the raised voices like Lovino's. He just knew you couldn't hide a loud voice like Lovino's without a real good solution.

Wait, why was Lovino yelling? Was he angry? Who had angered him?

Antonio felt a slight twinge of guilt, thinking he was the reason, but then he shook his head. Lovino wouldn't get so angry with him over such a small thing. Unless, that is, that small thing was on the subject on the lack of pasta or tomatoes in the house.

Antonio had learned his lesson about eating the last tomato, or questioning Lovino's large consumption of pasta. His ears rang at the memory of all the yelling and his back ached in the ghost feeling of that sleepless night on the couch. He shuddered; he had truly learned his lesson about those two things.

He paused, in his wrapping of one of the last presents, to listen more closely. He frowned, as the conversation floated over to him. He could almost swear that one voice was familiar…

"No," he heard Lovino snap at someone, "I don't give a damn, anymore! Fuck off and, this time, fuck off and stay the fuck away!"

"I don't really think," Antonio heard someone else reply, "you mean that, Lovino. I think you're lying to yourself about what you really want." Their voice depicted them as male, but something told Antonio he knew this person. Or at the very least, he had met them and heard them speak. He tried to listen harder and a bit closely.

"I said no to your proposal, once, asshole," Lovino growled. "If I said no once, then I'll do it again." Antonio felt something crack in him at those words.

_**Proposal**__: _that usually meant a marriage proposal, right?

…_**Rejection**__: _he knew that feeling so well, despite how much he looked as if that wasn't even a word in his vocabulary.

He was so afraid of that word; he didn't think about it much since…hi-Arthur. But, nevertheless, he listened closely to find out what Lovino meant. "I don't love you; I don't have a reason to. Now, leave me al—"

Antonio heard those words cut off, and he frowned. Who had managed to, no, who had **dared** to command his beloved tomato's silence?

He put down the unwrapped present, face set, as he walked out of the kitchen. He was only met with the sight of Lovino slamming the door shut in whoever's face, his usually lightly tanned face now red with fury. He had slight drops beading at the corners of his eyes. His mouth was painted in a snarl, teeth bared, as he kept his hands against the door as if to keep the other person outside.

Antonio rounded the corner, Lovino crumbling to his knees in front of the door. His shoulders were slightly shaking, but he only made small sounds known. He came closer, holding out his hand.

**[LOVINO]**

"Lovi?"

He couldn't— No, didn't even raise his head at the voice, he didn't want to. He had promised himself he would never deal with the other ever again. Not after when he had tried to "sweep him off his feet" after humiliating him for bringing up…that dark part of his past in Italy.

**The start…the spark that led to a full-fledged burn…**

**It all started because of his stupid voice…**

_It was before he had had hit stardom…When he was just a semi-well known Italian, who was known in his hometown of Rome for his voice. He would hardly sing then, unless he was drunk or Feliciano convinced him. He thought people who pick fun at the young man who could sing…Even though he had never been picked on for his voice._

_It merely had been a coincidence that he and his grandfather would have an argument. It was merely his shitty luck; it was because of his inability to control his temper that started the fight in the first place. It was just his luck that he was such a dumbass as to walk out._

_Right when his grandfather asked for him to calm down so they could about it like civilized people. It was just his luck that he had been so angry he had missed the luck of utter pain on his twin brother's face._

_It was just his luck, he had decided to get drunk at that one bar, that he had spotted a few weeks prior with some foreign patrons. It was just his luck that, while he was drunk…he started singing. It was just his luck, he had too incoherent to know when he was being dragged from the bar by someone he didn't know._

_It was just his luck that he would sleep with a total stranger, giving a small and special part of himself to someone he knew nothing about. It was just fucking luck, that even months afterwards, he would be dating that same guy._

_Dating for some time, years, and being put on a figurative pedestal. Anything he could possibly want was just…handed over to him. It was just his luck that he had begun to have felt like he could trust that man, even start to fall head over heels for him. Even when something kept telling him, something was wrong._

_It was just his fucking luck, that when he finally noticed that he was ignorant of the man's sporadic disappearances and private calls, it was too late to stop his feelings from expanding. He was already in love with him. He couldn't un-love him…He thought it would be too much, he had given away too much of himself to do so._

_He was stuck, too in love to leave but too still too suspicious of the other's now more rare visits to think he could stay without knowing the truth._

_It was just his luck that he and his brother got noticed by some producer while they joking around at the market. It was just his luck that he would run to tell the man who he thought would be happy for him…Only to find out, that it would be the exact day, he would find out said man had a family._

**He had a wife and two children…**

_He will never forget the wife's question, "Excuse me? Do you business in my home?" He will never forget the sight of those children, some alike their father, as they stared at him. The youngest waved at him, saying brightly, "I remember you from the news! Ve~ You sang, with that other guy who looks like you, at the market!"_

_The wife had suddenly rounded on him, beaming, and "I have a celebrity in my home?" She had come towards him, open arms and smiling. But he could stand in place, too stunned to move._

"_Ve~ Mommy, Daddy's home!"_

_That snapped Lovino out of his stupor, as he dashed outside. He hopped onto his cycle, thinking of nothing but going as far as he could from this house. He only caught one glimpse of his once love, as he saw him speed away. He only saw his shock worsen as his wife came up to him, saying something that made him look up…_

…_He looked up, only to see Lovino gone and intent on never coming back._

_Lovino hadn't stopped crying for a long time. He didn't answer his phone and ignored the knocks at the door. He locked himself away. He didn't even remember how it quite happened. He just remembered taking down the last wine bottle he had…he guessed the house had gotten messy what with the thrown and broken bottles._

_He just had never anticipated slipping on one, and to land right on a particularly dangerous gathering of shards he had never cleaned up. It didn't help that when he had hit his head on the floor, a floor with its own sharp gatherings…_

_It didn't help that he let himself think the pain was better was for his own good. It didn't help that he laughed at the irony. He was lying in shards of dark red glass, just like his blackened heart had shattered in his chest. It didn't help that he kept laughing, even as blood slipped from him, and that he poked and fiddled with a shard sticking out of his chest. He had laughed at how close it was to actually killing him…_

…_He laughed until he felt his laughter die with his vision._

_He didn't really remember when remember Feliciano come back. He didn't really remember him yelling through the door, trying to ask him to unlock it so they could talk. He didn't really remember when his little brother had left to get Ludwig…only to have the door's lock picked._

_But he did most certainly remember hearing the distant sound of someone screaming. After that, he could hear faint sobs, and yelling, more sobs and pleas for him to open his eyes. There were faint memories for him to swear or insult the other, a desperate plea as proof he was alive._

_It was a desperate effort, but a simple one too. But it was already getting hard to breathe…wait, why couldn't he breathe? It-it felt like something was trying to choke him, trying to fill his lungs. He could taste something awful on his tongue and he tried to spit it out._

_Whatever it was, it made the sobs in his memory faintly louder. He remembered closing his eyes again, as he began to feel this weird sensation of growing heavier and heavier with each struggling breath. He remembered trying to slip into a small pouch of warmth and…he thought he saw his mother crying at the sight of him. Her mouth was moving, but he couldn't hear her…_

_He had been about to tell her so, when he felt himself yanked back by something. He was yanked and shoved back into a world full of pain. Pain. That's all he could feel. Vividly, all too clear pain that he remembered made him thrash and scream every string of curses he knew._

_He remembered voices talking at once. He remembered seeing Feliciano struggling with someone, he thought he remembered blonde hair, but he wasn't sure. But he surely remembered when he felt something being ripped from him. His eyes widened in pain, vision blurring with tears, and then he shut them quickly and screamed the loudest he could—_

Lovino groaned, he didn't want to remember that dark gap in his life. He tried to forget those days, as best he could. He had thrown out every wine bottle he had, and guarded his heart with almost paranoia. He flinched at the slightest touch to any of his scars…

_But then Gilbert came, he was actually in town to annoy his cousin, Ludwig, while he was free with work. When he met Lovino, it had been sparks and fire almost instantly. Gilbert had the sparks; he had the hots for Lovino. Said Italian had the fire, literally, he knew a lit candle at him and proceeded to curse him in Italian for even daring to touch him and waltz into his house._

_But Gilbert had persisted, and eventually Lovino gave up on attacking him. Instead, he did what any normal Italian solider would do: He fled and tried his damnedest to never see the other's face ever again. That plan didn't work too well, not with Feliciano telling everything he needed to know._

_He started bringing tomatoes and pasta to win Lovino over. When he wasn't being sprayed in the face with pepper spray, so Lovino could take the gifts and then walk back into his house like nothing had happened and locked the door, he was left there at the door._

_Lovino had managed to keep it this way, for about a few months, until that is…he left the house for a trip to the store, and came home only to find Feliciano chatting up with the white-haired man he had been trying his hardest to avoid._

_But when Gilbert lifted his head to say something, Lovino did the first thing to come to mind he opened a carton of eggs and dropped them on said German's head. Feliciano had yelped and jumped off the couch. Then, he started complaining about how mean Lovino was to the "nice German who had brought them so much pasta and tomatoes"._

_But Lovino's eyes were focused on the German. He had expected him, as a relative of Ludwig, to be outraged and start barking orders and being an ass just so he could have a reason to kick the German out of his house. But instead, Gilbert laughed._

_It wasn't merry or happy-sounding, it was a loud guffaw that was actually strangely annoying for him to hear. He had almost told the other to shut up, when to blink as he felt egg flicked at him. He flicked it back, but more came back, and it just kept coming back and forth like that until even Feliciano had egg splattered over his face._

"_Feliciano, I'm back!" They all heard Ludwig call, "Did your brother return? My cousin, Gilbert, said he was coming so tell him to—" He came upon the scene, and immediately his face was angry. "What the Hell did you three-?"_

_He was never given time to finish as both Lovino and Gilbert flicked egg at the usually strict German, both saying at the same time, "Ah shut up."_

_Everyone turned to the two who had said and done the same thing, both two stared at each other. Time stood still, and Gilbert was the first to break the silence. He held out a slimy hand, that Lovino looked down at with disinterest, "The name's Gilbert Beilschmidt, I'm awesome and it's nice to meet you."_

_Lovino waited a minute to speak, but what he said wasn't a greeting, it was a "Get the fuck off my couch, you're getting it ugly with your German skin." Feliciano winced, as Ludwig sighed, but to everyone's surprise, Gilbert was unaffected._

"_I'm not German," he said, as he leant back into the couch. Lovino's eye twitched, as he fought back a snarl when he saw the other deliberately smearing egg over the back of the couch. "You German asshole! Why I ought to—!"_

_Gilbert cut him off, with a roll of his maroon eyes and a smirk that reeked with self-confidence. "I'm Prussian, babe, and Prussians don't take orders. They give them." Lovino blinked, almost believing he was surprised at the remark before he shook his head free of such thoughts. A filthy German was on his fucking couch, for pasta's sake!_

"_Fuck you," he started, "Get the fuck out of my—"_

_He yelped as he found himself pulling, rather unwillingly into a lap. He was struggling and kicking until Gilbert smirked by his ear, "But I don't even know your name, what kind of man would I be if I didn't take the time to get to know ya before I fucked you?"_

_Lovino's face shamed any tomato he had ever eaten. He sputtered. Not only was it a dirty comment, it poked at sore spots in him. He had slept someone he had barely known…and that relationship had blew up in his face because he didn't know the other and the secrets he had never told._

_But what if he got to know Gilbert, before he did anything? Would the result be the same?_

_At the time, he hadn't thought so. It might have taken a bit more pepper sprays and gifts, before Gilbert finally became immune to that tactic and Lovino just decided to Hell with it and let the "Prussian" into his house and life. He found a comfortable spot with Lovino, eventually, and before he even knew it, he found Gilbert making fun of Ludwig by calling him West since "they were soon-to-be brothers in-laws rather than cousins._

_Ludwig had been mortified and Lovino had decided to further the jab, while being completely innocent about it, by personally asking Feliciano if there was such a thing as a pasta being served at a wedding…right in front of Ludwig._

_The older Italian will never forget the look of utter disbelief on the German's face as he overfilled his coffee cup. The sight of his face in pain, when the overflowing coffee burned his hand, was worth hearing the five minutes of Feliciano whining about Ludwig being more careful._

It had felt right, for a while…so right…and then came that day…that damn dark fucking day when Gilbert finally questioned the scars on his back.

_Lovino said nothing at first, then switched to saying it was "none of the other's business" to "it was a long time ago". But none of the answers satisfied the Prussian._

_Eventually, he finally cornered the other and made him talk. But really hit home, was when he saw the Prussian had brought wine, red wine, Italian red wine, in hopes of coaxing the other to talk. Lovino had immediately recognized the bottle._

_It didn't help that he saw buried memories slap him across the face. Those memories included flashes of that smiling wife and those happy and clueless children. The man's shocked face at being seen. Lovino saw it all come back. Despite how he had taken the medicine to bury that part of his life, did his best to avoid drinking ever again, to avoid falling for someone who would hurt him again._

_It didn't help that he had tried to run, and his leg caught on a chair leg. It didn't help that the chair rocked against the table and made the bottle crash onto the floor. It didn't help that the red wine looked as red as blood. It didn't help that it splashed over Lovino in all the right ways…it didn't help that Lovino remembered he was wearing a white shirt and light shorts when he opened his eyes._

_It didn't help he had a glass shard in his hand. It didn't help him that he looked like the day Feliciano had come to him…_

_He didn't think he would have a nervous breakdown when he saw himself. It didn't help that Gilbert had called Feliciano. It didn't help that Feliciano had rushed over, Ludwig actually barely keeping up. It didn't help that Feliciano was actually beyond pissed. It didn't help that Lovino had been unable to find a reason to eat or speak for nearly a week._

_It especially didn't help when he turned down the Prussian's marriage proposal, saying, "He didn't think he could handle anything more than just remembering to keep breathing." It didn't help that the Prussian had to move across the Atlantic_, when his job called him back, and Lovino found himself missing the other's presence.

But he forced himself to bury the memories once more. Although he nearly overdosed multiple times on the pills the doctor gave, a few times accidental while others were those single nights he tried to purposely put out his own light, he won the fight to get better…eventually.

He managed to get back on his own feet, by himself…eventually. He managed to get over his past love, Gilbert…eventually. He found Antonio, accidentally. He fell in love, before he had even remembered how long it had taken with others, accidentally.

He found himself torn when Gilbert showed up, after all the time passed, and saw Antonio as a threat, suddenly. He had found himself clutching a damn turtle the other had "given him" for comfort, when he found Antonio wouldn't answer his calls to explain, frequently.

He found himself avoiding the press' questions and claims about his relationships, purposely. He found himself slowly slipping back into the dark depression where he saw himself lying on the floor, still.

He didn't want to go back to those times.

**So why was this so difficult?**

_Why couldn't he just get over that…that kiss Gilbert had given him? Why couldn't he get over the fact that the Prussian was still determined to win him back, despite how he was with another, someone who he didn't seem to like. Why couldn't he get over the fact that Gilbert had proposed to him, but Antonio hadn't?_

_Why couldn't he get over the fact he was still human? Why couldn't he get over the fact he was imperfect? That he had flaws, like everyone else? That he couldn't get over others like he wanted to, at the drop of a hat?_

_Why couldn't he get over the fact that…_

…**Love was such a bitch, when it wanted to be so **_fucking_** difficult?**

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

Yeah, this chapter was a bitch to write. One: I am still trying to decipher the inner workings of PruMano. Two: How/when the fuck this story was going to end. This was actually supposed to stop at 10 chapters…yeah; we see how well I did with that idea. *rolls eyes*

Ugh, and now that I think about it. This update is late, like super fucking LATE to the extreme. I am so sorry, guys! I am so sorry! I hadn't meant to take this long! Like I said on my other stories, I meant to update before father's day, I was nearly done with some of my updates, but my health decided to be a bitch. (Seizures are going to kill me one day; I just know it, damn it.)

Thus, I stuck in the bed, doped up until I thought my name was Marilyn. P.S My name starts with a B; I don't have an M in my name…at all.

No clue where the fuck I got that idea from…anyways, does this chapter make up for the wait? I am so sorry, guys! *bows repeatedly* Please forgive me! I never meant to take this long! I tried to thicken this chapter up a bit, with flashbacks, to keep you guys from throttling me. T-T

Well? Are you guys still pissed? I won't blame you, if you are, just be honest. I'm really sorry. I thank you all for even sticking with me, despite my shitty schedule.

If you're not totally mad at me—

**READ AND ****REVIEW****.**


	12. Misunderstandings

**In-Tune**

**Rating:** T

**Summary**: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

* * *

><p>Author Alert: THIS-IS-NOT-SPARTA, , spainleboss41<p>

Story alert/ Favorites: ** , GilbirdAttack (LOL), THIS-IS-NOT-SPARTA, spainleboss41, silver Alida**

Reviewer(s)!: **Oceanfur, Lovi's Tomato Lover, Lady-Prien, Nana, THIS-IS-NOT-SPARTA(2), NaruIchi **

Oceanfur: Yes, feel bad for our poor tomato-loving Romano. :'(

Lovi's Tomato Lover: Yeah, you might as well feel bad for all of them then…And that guy can burn in him! That is why he remains in the past.

Lady-Prien: Yes, they can spam you now. :D By all means, you have use Toby as a meme in your stories; just remember to give me my credit. :)

Nana: Good to see you again. Yes, fight 'Tonio! FIGHT FOR YOUR TOMATO! (Why is everyone surprised Antonio has a kid? XD)

THIS-IS-NOT-SPARTA: Oh my Gott! It's you! X) Yes. I'm awesome. (2) I'm glad you like the plot and how I make the characters. The link to the Toby Fan Club is in my communities, go there and spam Lady-Prien until she lets you in. X) Here you are, Mr. Moustache~ ;)

: That is such a pretty name~

NaruIchi: LMAO…you are too funny…

* * *

><p><strong>.:Chapter Eleven:.<strong>

**[ANTONIO]**

_Let's see_, he thought to himself, _where to start…_

One: This was a bad idea. Two: This was a really bad idea. Three: This was a REALLY, really bad idea. The Spaniard wasn't comfortable at all. It wasn't the fact that his mother and younger sister were coming by for a short visit soon. No, that wasn't it. He was fine about that. He had all but made it absolutely clear to his father; he wanted nothing to do with him.

No, it was the fact that Lovino had to leave afterwards for a tour across seas. He wasn't concerned about the tour itself. It was just…Lovino had been so distant lately.

He hadn't snapped at Antonio as much as he used to. Even though, Antonio did some things on purpose, if only to coax the spark of anger in those amber eyes. But no, amber remained a dark gold, and nothing changed.

Antonio sighed at his desk, looking down at the papers he had graded and signed in his absent state of mind. He had really done a week's worth of work in…He looked to his clock, and his eye twitched. He had done a week's worth of work in a just a little over an hour.

He sighed again, rubbing at his head a bit. He still felt uneasy about the whole thing. Lovino hadn't spoken much to him today. But last Antonio had checked, the moody Italian had been in the tomato garden out back with Toby.

Thinking, he could start a conversation, and perhaps convince the other to tell him what was wrong, Antonio stood and started to make his way to the backyard. He left his office, and felt slightly better away as he thought of the many things he could do to help the Italian. If he'd let him help, that is. For some reason, the Italian didn't like hugs much. He never had, during their relationship, and Antonio found it slightly odd.

Who didn't like hugs?

Besides, Lovino "Romano" Vargas, that is.

He giggled to himself, passing his living room with higher hopes. His mind drifted, as if often did, and Antonio found himself thinking of dinner. "I'm in the mood for seafood…I don't think Mama will mind. Dana loved it when he cooked, and pretty much ate whatever it was. She wasn't too picky…

That he remembered. It had been a while since he had last seen his little sister. His bastard of a father had tried to keep her away from him, saying he would "taint" her views.

_Dick_, he thought, with a somewhat strained smile. He was already near the kitchen, when the hairs on the back of his neck rose. There was a prickly sensation there, and he stopped. Lucky, or unlucky, that he did because he caught the hushed conversation floating in from the backyard.

It was a very sad conversation, spoken by an even sadder Lovino. But what cut Antonio the most deeply was the fact that Lovino was talking about him. _Was he was apologizing…?_

"**I know I'm stupid."**

No, Antonio wanted to say. You're not stupid. You're one of the smartest people I know. What are you talking about? Why are you calling yourself stupid?

"**I know this is stupid."**

Antonio felt his head cock slightly to the side, as he walked quietly closer. Lovino had his back to the door. Toby was barely visible in the thick garden of green vines, red fruit, and small wooden poles. But Lovino wasn't. The Italian was fully visible, and Antonio could see his shoulder trembling.

"**If I could change it, I would."**

Change what? Antonio wanted to ask, but the more rational part of him shushed him. He had to find out what was causing Lovino so much discomfort…But somewhere inside of him, a part of him, Antonio found he really didn't want to hear. That what he was going to hear was going to change everything.

He wished he had listened to that voice; maybe he could have remained oblivious…

"**Antonio may be a bastard, but he's not a bastard that I want to hurt like that…"**

Antonio was so confused, and yet he wasn't. A part of him, the one that still saw Arthur as more than a past relation twisted Lovino's words in his mind. The worst part: the voice sounded like his father. _I told you, what did I say? I was right! God hasn't forgiven you at all._

Antonio shook his head, starting to turn away, as he began to feel sick. "N-no," he mumbled, but his voice was too soft for even him to hear. Nevertheless, the voice of his father continued.

_You don't deserve to be happy, if you can't even follow God's will. _The voice mocked, and then said, _what makes you sure he would have lasted anyways? You saw the scars. He tried to commit the ultimate sin, and you knew it about, because he told you. You knew he tried to kill himself._

_You're just as bad as you always have been. Stupid niño_, the voice finished, but it didn't matter that Lovino had continued his words. Antonio had already run in search of the bathroom. His stomach felt something awful and wanted to show him just how disgusting he was on the inside.

Antonio crouched over the white bowl. Something slid down his face, but he was too occupied to even look down to see what it was. His mind was going faster than it should have been, and his head was throbbing. Knots of pain curled tighter in his middle, and he felt the urge to double over increase within him.

_I haven't changed at all._ He thought, _I still…I…_

A sob tore his raw throat, and he made a small sound of pain, as angry tears blurred his vision. He had still found someone to hurt him just as much as love him. Antonio laughed bitterly, as he thought, _obviously, I'm a masochist. _

**It didn't matter that he had really trusted Lovi to be better than Arthur.**

**[LOVINO]**

"It's not even his fault," the Italian began. "He doesn't deserve what I've put him through or what I'm probably going to put him through later." The brunette sighed, and stroked the spotted shell of the turtle currently lying in the dirt of the tomato garden. "I don't want to go away for tour, but my bastard won't let me stay. He said I've been off long enough."

Toby cocked his head, beady eyes studying its 'mother'. Then, the large turtle crept over, tugging at a tomato plant and tossing the red fruit at Lovino. The Italian sighed, but he did smile a little. He could always count on Toby to at least try to cheer him up.

_Speaking of cheer_, he inwardly thought, _where's the cheerful tomato bastard?_

Truth be told, Lovino had been ignoring the other. But it was only because, he thought if he could put enough distance between them then his leaving for a long time wouldn't hurt as much. Unfortunately, it had backfired. He didn't know how Antonio was faring, since he hardly talks to him now, but he knew he was miserable.

_Damn him_, Lovino thought, as he frowned. A slight blush rose to his cheeks_. It's not my fault he's cheerful...and funny…and nice to have around…and not bad to look at…and –_

Lovino stopped that train of thought, before he ended up bruising the red fruit still in his palm. He groaned, as he made to stand on his feet, taking Toby with him. He saw that the back porch light was still off, and he frowned. Normally, Antonio turned it on. The Spaniard liked to stay outside a while after dinner.

Walking inside, Lovino saw no dinner at all. In fact, the kitchen was still empty. The counters were clear of ingredients, and bowls. The stove wasn't even on, Lovino noticed, his worry increasing. Where was Antonio?

He was right about to call out the other's name, when he heard footsteps approaching. Speak of the devil, and here he comes, Lovino thought. He opened his mouth to say something, when Toby bit down on his finger suddenly. Lovino yelped, swears falling quickly from his lips.

Antonio came around the corner, and stepped into the kitchen, face worried. Once he saw Lovino, however, something in his face changed. Nonetheless, he hid it well, as he crossed over the room to help Toby to tomatoes versus Lovino's finger. The Italian still didn't know why the turtle had randomly snapped at him.

"Are you hungry?" Antonio asked, and Lovino managed a scowl, not even seeing the slight fear in the other's green eyes. He didn't see the hurt and mistrusts starting to swirl around for a deadly combination. "No duh, tomato bastard," Lovino snapped, "and it better be seafood." Amber eyes pointedly went to Toby, to which the turtle seemed to be oblivious of as it pawed Antonio's shirt.

"Uh," Antonio stammered, "sure, um, don't eat Toby, okay?" The Spaniard hesitantly handed the turtle back to Lovino. Lovino frowned, as he saw Antonio acting out of character.

"Is something wrong?" The Italian asked, as he was putting away the pause Antonio gave before answering, "I'm just a bit nervous, that's all." Lovino inwardly felt bad. Maybe Antonio was already getting over him and his tour.

Lovino bit back something in his throat, playing with Toby instead, as he slowly left the room. Once he thought he was out of earshot, he hid behind the wall and just slid down to the floor. A demon or some evil shit, he thought, was using an invisible knife to cut me open.

He looked down at Toby, and the black eyes looked back at him. He tried to smile, and it came out as a grimace. The knife was coming up slowly, oh so slowly, to draw out every morsel of pain possible. Lovino could feel his smile breaking, the tilts fallings and starting to fall.

He let out a choked laugh, guess he was the only one taking it hard, wasn't he? He always was. The first time, it was him. The second time, it was him. And now look: here he was a third time, feeling hurt.

They say history repeats itself, when you do not correct your mistakes…

Lovino slumped against the wall, frowning deeply.

**So where did he go wrong?**

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><p>I know I am<strong> LATE<strong>. I know, I know, I know! DX I am sorry!

I had some trouble with this chapter...Antonio was being a bitch. Lovino was fine, his usual self. Antonio was the bitch. FTW.

Um, I meant for this to be happier, with a family dinner, and then kind of a cliff hanger-ing by Gilbert come in, but then I scraped it and chose this instead.

I like this one more~

^_^ Hope it's well-liked.

Please don't kill me—!

**READ AND ****REVIEW****.**

**P.S**. Please vote on my poll, it's on my profile, VOTE. It ends soon. :)


	13. Ups and Downs

**In-Tune**

**Rating:** T

**Summary**: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. Sparomano AntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

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><p>Author Alert: Alexia-Esco, NaruIchi<p>

Story alert/ Favorites: ** HikariKegawaAshi, Aeryn Night**

Reviewer(s)!: ** Oceanfur, Lady-Pyrien, Alexia-Esco, NaruIchi(2), HikariKegawaAshi, Nana**

Oceanfur: It's sad to think that their current love is being fucked up by their past, isn't it? And Antonio might let you, once he gets over the fact that you're there. But Lovino might just keep freaking out…Yeah. Thank you though for the compliment. I try my best.

Lady-Pyrien: It is sad…and I know, a friend told me about it, I was thinking about reading it…You made Toby a stuffed animal! XD And people loved it! (I read reviews…) Toby is now a traveling shovel….LOL

Alexia-Esco: I want to hug them… I' try my best to update soon.

NaruIchi: (1) LOL…(2) Toby would be the only sane one.

HikariKegawaAshi: Glad to see you finally came around to review. I'm glad. I hope to see you again when this update hits your inbox, so you can have some more SpaMano/Toby love~

Nana: I know, hun, it's a shame. Uh…don't say that aloud. The first part, the explanation just barely saves you. XD But, you're still right. And it's still a damn shame. *shaking head*

**Oo00o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0**

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><p><strong>.:Chapter Twelve:.<strong>

**[LOVINO]**

Waking up hadn't been too difficult. It was actually getting up that was so hard to do. But it wasn't that Lovino was tired, he slept too well for that. It was simply for the fact that…He didn't want to. He didn't want to get up. Getting up meant he had to get ready for a tour that would take him away from the one person he trusted. Well, the one he thought he could trust anyways.

He could remember last night so well. After the little staring contest he had had with the air, Lovino had let Toby run around, so he could clean his face. Just because he had his feelings shoved in his face, didn't mean that others had to see it and make fun of him for it.

Fuck that, he thought. He remembered that, just as he was going off in search of Toby – the turtle was faster than most, Lovino would give him that – the doorbell had rung. He had looked to a wall clock, and had seen how just much time had passed and wondered where the Hell had it gone.

Jupiter probably, it was giant hunk of gas, right? Well, that was what he thought anyways. He hadn't really thought anything of it, when he opened the door. But he most certainly hadn't expected to be knocked on his ass by a teenage girl.

"Oh mi Dio!" A shrill voice was screaming, and Lovino grunted. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! My brother actually has Romano in his house!" A series of high-pitched giggles met his ears, and Lovino winced. He guessed this was Dana, Antonio's little sister. He had inwardly thought that Dana would get along with Feliciano…all too well.

**Future Mission**: Keep those fuckers apart, at all costs.

"Dana!" A firm voice snapped, and I felt the girl's weight on me shift. I grunted. Her knee was too close for me to be comfortable. I pulled her back to look at her in the face. I felt my eyes widen, when I saw she didn't look much like Antonio at all.

Her hair was dark, and she didn't have his curls. Instead of green eyes, hers were a mocha shade of brown, and similar to mine, but mine was darker. Those brown eyes were so full of life, though, and you could easily see her resemblance to Antonio then. Well, that, and her smile. It just shone.

"Mi mama…" She whined, as she tried to hold Lovino. Her knee was brushing against Lovino, and he squirmed, uncomfortable. "You know I love Romano, let me enjoy this…"

"Please get off of me," said Italian begged. "The floor is not comfortable." His response made someone laugh, and the Italian looked up to see a female Antonio standing above him. There were the familiarities: the vibrant green eyes and curly brown hair that ran over her shoulder.

"Dana, he won't sign you an autograph," the female Antonio began, "If he can't lift his hand." A gasp, and then the weight on Lovino was suddenly lifted, as he was being pulled to his feet. Just as soon as he was standing on his own, he found slim arms hugging his waist.

He tried to be polite, and patted the girl's head, making her squeal and giggle. But in the back of his mind, Lovino had a déjà vu moment of being back with his brother. There wasn't much difference. Except, the girl wasn't saying 've'—

"Oh my God, say ve!" Dana begged. Lovino blinked, and just went, "Ve, you do realize your brother is in the kitchen, right? I'm not the main attraction here." Dana's brown eyes went wide, and then she squealed again. "Oh my God, do it again! Por favor!"

Lovino just stared at her, confused. Did he say something wrong, or did the little girl really not care about the fact that her brother was only a few feet away.

The female Antonio sighed, bringing Lovino's attention back to her, and she smiled. "Lo siento, she is a really big fan of you and your brother." She crossed the small space between them, and tried to hug him. Smiling, she said, "I'm Isabella, Antonio's mama, it's so good to finally meet you."

Lovino nodded, and tried to smile back, although it seemed nervous and somewhat strained. "No kidding, but's nice to meet you, Ms. Isabella." He bit his lip, trying to think up a delicate way of telling the girl to let go. He found he couldn't come with one, and he looked back at Isabella.

She pulled away, laughing, and easily pried Dana's hand off of Lovino to the girl's utter disappointment. Her hands remained outstretched, and Lovino could see the tomato pattern on her nails. She caught him looking, and beamed.

Using his freedom carefully, Lovino said, "Well then. You two must be hungry, Antonio is in the kitchen." He had already turned around, and was in the process of walking to said kitchen to get something to eat, when he heard the pair of girls squeal behind him.

He looked over his shoulder, and found Toby had entered the room and was leaning on Dana's sandals. He blinked, and then scoffed, as he shook his head. Toby took after Antonio, the attention-seeking womanizer.

A small spring of pain pricked his chest, as Lovino thought of said Spaniard flirting with other girls. He felt some color rise to his face. Antonio wouldn't do that to him…would he?

_No_, he told himself. _No, he wouldn't._ He tried to put on a smile, just like he would do when he was onstage in front of hundreds of people_. I'm sure the bastard would rather give up his tomatoes than ever do that to me….At least, I can hope he would._

Banishing away the dark thoughts before they could do him any harm, Lovino whistled and caught Toby's attention. Dana squealed, "Oh wow, he's trained!"

Lovino tried to ignore the impulse to ask why he wouldn't train his pet, and instead beckoned said pet to him. He bent on one knee with open arms, and smirked to the turtle. "Come here, little brat, stop flirting."

Toby's head cocked a bit, and his beady eyes narrowed in possible mirth. The turtle made for him, and Dana found her eyes widening, and Isabella asking her to close her mouth before a fly laid eggs in it, when Toby moved quickly (for a turtle) to Lovino.

Lovino patted Toby's head, "Good boy." With another squeal from Dana, and the quick succession of her feet behind him, the Italian made way for the kitchen. He tried to reduce the amount of swears around Dana, he didn't know if she was exposed to it as much as he was when he was younger. Better to play it safe, than be sorry and have his ass kicked.

"Oi, Tonio," He stopped, mid-sentence, and almost immediately he forgot about his resolve to reduce his swears. "Bastard! What the Hell, why the fuck are you covered in fucking flour?" Antonio looked up from the broken flour bag, blinking away some of the white powder. He heard Lovino continue, "You look like a damn cloud with emeralds for eyes!"

Antonio blinked, and then laughed, "Really? Emeralds? Thanks, Lovi~" Dana sputtered on a laugh, as she ducked to the table. Lovino grumbled something about morons, before handing Toby to Dana, and took the bag from Antonio to throw it away.

"Don't ever do that again," he tried to say seriously. Isabella watched everything with a smile. Lovino continued, "You're lucky we have another bag…" When said bag was shown for proof, Lovino held it behind him, and said, "I'm not letting you break it again. Stay back! I-I'll open it, myself."

"But Lovi, it's –" Antonio began, but the Italian ignored him…and opened the wrong end of the bag. Antonio smiled awkwardly, as he rubbed the back of his head, as Lovino found himself decked with flour as well. "That's what happened to my bag…"

Lovino's eye twitched and he grumbled about stupid flour and more morons. At least his bag was mostly okay. He was still looked like a snowman, from the chin and up, though. This was easily solved as Antonio took a wet towel to his face, to which Lovino took the towel from him, silently, and wiped his own face. He had to keep what dignity he had left…

They made progress after that, Dana volunteered to sit back and play with Toby, whereas Mrs. Carriedo tried to entertain herself with helping the pair upfront cook dinner. It was a fun thing really. As it turns out: Mrs. Carriedo cried when cutting peppers, but not onions. Antonio could cut a tomato without looking.

Lovino was surprisingly a great multi-tasker. I.e.: Yelling to Antonio about turning Toby into a womanizer, hearing about Antonio as a child and thinking nothing had changed but for the fact he got taller; the last being when he had a mini-battle with Antonio for the last slice of unused tomato. Isabella cut it in half, and made them share. When Antonio wasn't looking, Lovino took a piece of shrimp too.

Dinner was probably his favorite part of the night. Not only did he find that Dana was more like him, but that they actually had a lot of in common. When Antonio seemed more content with keeping to himself, Isabella filled him in on funny childhood moments that Lovino inwardly tucked away as future blackmail for new shoes and the last few tomatoes.

When Isabella and Dana had to leave for their hotel, saying that it had been great to see them, Lovino had actually smiled for once. It was his first actual smile in a group of people. It felt good…

Cleaning dishes turned into a soap fight, in which Antonio won, because Toby is a traitor, tripping his 'mother'. Then it was time to use the remaining sunlight in the backyard. Antonio didn't talk, but Lovino could see something was on his mind. He didn't press for it, although he had a feeling that something was wrong.

But it was when he was readying for bed, that the feeling came back. And it had grown. Antonio didn't say anything. When Lovino smacked him with a pillow, it took Antonio over five seconds to respond. Then, the Antonio blinked, and asked what was going on.

Lovino had tried to pass it off as some lingering excitement of the night making the Spaniard phase out. But…it felt like more than that. As he lay down to sleep, he frowned a bit. He was going on tour in the morning. He would have to leave a note or something for the bastard. He told himself he would write a note in the morning, or if Antonio was up, then he would tell him personally.

**But little did he know...he would forget to write that note, before leaving.**

**[ANTONIO]**

_He's gone._

That was Antonio's first thought when he woke up. He had found himself waking up alone. He had awoken to a cold and half-empty bed. _It was just like old times, _the voice mocked, but Antonio ignored it. He started to sit up, and look for the Italian, growing worried, before telling himself to calm down and think.

_Yes, think about how he left all alone, just like the other did._

He shook his head, before the pain could bring about memories best left in the dark. He didn't want to think about the past. He didn't need to, either. It was called the past for a reason. Things were left in the past for the reason.

_But Lovino left you just now, and he didn't tell you he was leaving…did he_? The voice mocked in his mind. _Doesn't that make you the past?_

Antonio wanted to tell the voice to shut up, but more than one part wanted to know why his tomate had left him alone, without telling him. More than one part of him wanted to believe that the other had a good reason for it. But Antonio had no word. Lovino hadn't told him anything. Not even a note to tell him where he had gone.

Nothing…Lovino had left him all alone.

**As he stared up at the ceiling, he wondered why Lovino would leave without a word.**

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><p>Wasn't this a nice change? (*sarcasm* God, I'm so mean to Antonio. *shot by fan girls*) Anyways, this story is going to close soon. Only about 4-5 chappies left, if only that. ^^<p>

^_^ Hope it's well-liked.

Oh yeah, before I forget:

[_I have a little challenge for my SpaMano writers and readers~ Toby the Turtle is a beloved character from Bai-Marionette (formerly BrooklynBabbii)'s fic 'In Tune'. In this chapter, I have mentioned Toby~_

_Now here's the challenge: On NaNo, they have several fun characters that you can slip into a story for no reason, like the traveling shovel and what not. So let's see if we can make Toby the SpaMano version of the shovel and put Toby in your fics~! Toby doesn't have to play a huge part, but could be mentioned, in a scene, or could actually be the cause for everything in your plot!_

_Stories with Toby in them can be added to Lady-Prien's community for the cute little turtle~! Have fun and send her a PM if you do this so she/I can read the story, too! I have given the permission under the rule that you give me credit in an AN because Toby is my character~ She/I would love to see this happen ^_^ Thanks guys for reading and reviewing and making me a happy author~]_

**READ AND ****REVIEW****.**

**P.S**: Does anyone find it write that I tell you guys to read at the end of the chapter…? XDD


	14. A Call of Reassurance

**In-Tune**

**Rating:** T

**Summary**: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. SpaMano AntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

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><p><strong>.:Chapter Thirteen:.<strong>

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><p><strong>[LOVINO]<strong>

Standing in the crowded room, with his ticket, beside his brother, the older Italian felt something inside of him ache terribly. It was as if his chest hurt, when he knew it wasn't the case. It was his heart. For whatever reason, it was hurting.

He bit his lip, licked it, and then bit it again. He was restless. Feliciano continued to chatter off something, he was talking to Ludwig. Lovino's mind didn't even register that the German was present. Or that said German was eying him with an air of worry. He barely heard when Feliciano stopped talking to ask, "Ve, uh, fratello, is something wrong?"

Lovino shook his head, but he couldn't dispel the feeling. If anything, it only continued to plague him. it felt like it was growing bigger. It was taking nearly everything he knew he had in him, not to look back for something or someone.

For some reason, he felt the urge to look back and see something. Or someone, a voice in his mind continued to mock him. Lovino shook his head again, despite how Feliciano seemed to be growing increasingly concerned with his brother's detachment from what was going on around him.

_No_, he told himself. _I'm fine, it's just a little tour, I'll be home before I know it._ He didn't even notice that he had called Antonio's house his home. But it probably would have made little difference. It was his home. Spanish bastard and all, his little miniature version of himself and the bastard in Toby the turtle, and the nice little home and tomato garden.

Home.

Lovino bit his lip, and then ran a hand through his hair. He turned to his brother, and still didn't even think to take notice of the German behind him. "I…I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be right back." Lovino turned on his heel, with his carry on bag, before the others could even say anything to him.

For some reason, he felt the need to go back to home. It was his home, and he was leaving it. He didn't feel this as bad, as when he left Italy to be a star, not even as nearly as bad. But he was feeling it now. He was feeling it so badly, as he urged (and/or barked at men, and politely asked women) people to part so he could go to a secluded place.

He was in the bathroom, and then it cracked down a bit more forcefully on him. He bit his lip, as he dug through his carry-on. His phone wasn't there. He checked his pocket, and let out a small sigh of relief when he found it there.

His slender fingers flew over the numbered keys, and then he was putting it to his ear. He heard it ring once, and then twice…

He softly cursed under his breath, as his heart beat picked up in his chest. He wished it would either hang up, so he could try again, or that the line would open so he could have this little piece. Lovino was biting his lip, as he worried if he had done something to deserve being let to have to feel this pain. He hated it. He wished the bastard would pick up.

He just wanted to—

He only wanted to—

**He just needed a little reassurance.**

**[ANTONIO]**

The Spaniard was sighing, running his hands through his tousled hair, as he sat back down on the bed. He was just sitting there, and trying not to think about anything. But it was growing more difficult, as the room seemed intent on reminding him that things were missing.

When, he was done looking at the floor, he tried again at looking over everything in the room. It seemed to be so big and empty, without his little fiery tomate to be there. He felt his eyes fall down to the sheets beside him, at his waist.

What had he done to anger Lovi? Had he done something? Did Lovino need some space to himself? Had he really wanted to leave him?

Something choked Antonio in his throat. He didn't want to think that that last thought might be true. It couldn't be true. If it was, Antonio didn't know what he would do. He had already ruined one love of his, he had ruined someone else's who shouldn't have even been involved, and now here he was, doing it again.

His little tomate was gone from their bed. The Italian had left with no word, and no bedside note. But some of his stuff was gone, enough for a few days. A few days' worth of clothes missing was enough for Antonio to fear the worst. The fact that they were gone at all, with no reason for why, other than the background thought that Lovino was leaving him, was enough to make him fear the worst.

He inwardly wondered if Toby was even here. Would Lovino take their turtle too? Would he really leave the Spaniard with nothing to say that he had ever been there?

Antonio winced inwardly. He hoped not. Just as he made to rise once more, to actually check for the little reptile whose presence could decide whether or not Antonio would remain sane, he heard his phone ring.

Emerald eyes shone wide, as he practically leapt to check if his eyes were deceiving him. That his ringtone for his Lovi. It was a cute one that Antonio knew by heart and he knew that Lovino knew by heart as well. To further prove he wasn't insane: a picture of Lovino, taken when the other didn't know he was there, when he was smiling and holding Toby while watching some Spanish cooking channel.

Fumbling for the phone, and then to open the line before the call was sent to his voicemail, Antonio barely managed not to sound breathless as he answered the phone with a, "Hello? Lovi? Is that you?"

_Are you okay? Where did you go? Why did you leave me all alone?_ These questions remained unasked. Antonio had already given three. He had to remember the Italian's patience.

"_Oi, yeah…"_ Was the soft reply and Antonio felt the need to stretch the other's patience with questions. "Lovi, are you ok—?"

"Antonio," At that, said Spaniard shut up. Lovino had very rarely called him by his actual name. A Spanish heart squeezed itself, as he feared the worst. But Lovino surprised him with, "You…you won't hate me if I go on tour for a little while, will you? You'll still be at home, when I come back, right?"

Antonio's mind hit a brick wall, and then smacked into a tree in the middle of the second train of thought. Lovino thought _he_ was leaving _him_, or actually that he would leave him. He had really been spun for a loop.

"What," Antonio began, and then his mind came back and words were coming faster and with more of an accent than he normally allowed himself to use. He hoped Lovino could see past it. "Of course- _ah_, I'll be here. I could never-_ah_ hate _tú._ Toby _y_ I will still be here, until you come-_ah_ back."

There was a pause on the other line, and Antonio almost thought Lovino hadn't been able to understand, but then the other said, "I fucking hate your accent. It makes everything so damn difficult. It's almost as bad as an American one."

Antonio felt a little spite of hurt make him sniffle, he happened to like his accent and lots of others – mostly women – did too, but then Lovino continued. "But I get your gist. Oi, I'll be calling regularly, bastard, don't forget to take Toby out for walks. Make sure he takes his vitamins, he'll only take them with the cherry tomatoes, not with the garden variety, and don't forget …"

Antonio just listened, only retaining what he needed to know and do, and just enjoying the sound of Lovino's words. He forget how long they had been talking, when suddenly, something came to mind. "Uh, Lovi? Not to sound mean or anything, but if you're at the airport…are you watching your flight?"

A loud swear, and then came a long line of swearing. "Shit! You're right, for once! Damn it, I'll call you later, bastard! Remember what I said!"

Antonio smiled, as the image of Lovino on his phone went away to show the call ended. The feeling in his chest was slowly going away. A smile was etching its permanent way onto his face. Lovino was not only going to come back to him, he was going to call him back.

A jovial laugh escaped him, and then he was rolling onto his back. For some reason, he felt the urge to tell someone, and seeing his French amigo's number coming up first on his recently dialed list, besides his mother and Lovino, he pressed on it.

"Oui? Ah! My Spanish piece of ass, how are you, mon cher?" His mind completely skipping out on the first comment, Antonio jumped into his ecstatic chatter. Within five minutes he thought he was done, and Francis was congratulating him (and talking about how Antonio was going to end up throwing rainbows in the air, somehow, weird).

But whatever the Frenchman had said, or was saying, about rainbows, Antonio knew one thing:

**Lovino hadn't left him behind.**

* * *

><p>OMIGOD. HAPPY ENDING. The world is ending, isn't it? XD<p>

Sorry that this is so late, but this isn't even my complete fault this time! (Though, I'm happy to day you guys have stayed with me, despite how long I've been gone from FFnet. I am so sorry, but some asshole/bastardia stole my flash drive from my purse. I lost all of my FFnet work, my character profiles, and EVERYTHING.

So, I've been busting my ass after class and work to get everything back. I had to go to FFnet and copy back from what I had already posted, and then pray I could remember everything so I could at least get my ending right for all my stories. (All my stories were near finished on my flash drive.)

Again, thank you all for still being here, I can't thank you enough. I hope this update at least made some people smile. Gott knows my hands were cramping up after I finished this and another story's update. v.v)

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	15. A Reassuring Warmth

**In-Tune**

**Rating:** T

**Summary**: It was meant to be like any other of his family's usual summer home visits instead, when he invites his friend along in hopes of sharing the boredom, he finds a foreign star along the shore. SpaMano AntonioxLovino

_**BrooklynBabbii**_

**.:Chapter Fourteen:.**

**[LOVINO]**

The Italian was about to board the plane. He was going to board the plane. He was really going to board the plane, and willingly take himself from the home that he had made with Antonio. Not to mention his little child in the turtle named Toby. How was Toby, right now? Was Antonio feeding him? Did he take him for his walk yet? What if the Spaniard slacked off?

Lovino paused in sitting down on the seat, his face suddenly stiff and one of his eyes twitching. The flight attendants were telling everyone to turn off their phones for the duration of the flight and explaining emergency procedures.

Turning in his seat slightly to see Feliciano bubbling about seemingly nothing to the little old lady across from them; the older Italian inwardly pitied her. His younger brother could talk the ear off of even the most patient person.

As the older Italian tuned into the conversation, he thought he could very nearly see the happiness that Feliciano showed off so confidently, like he didn't have a care in the world. It was natural for him. Feliciano was rarely ever upset for long periods of time, even if something upset him, he would bounce back. He always bounced back.

And that was exactly what Lovino was going to do. He was going to bounce back. He wasn't going to let his past control his future. If Antonio could get past his, then Lovino sure as Hell could too.

As he continued to watch the lady's expression go from pleasantly amused to slightly overwhelmed with Feliciano's constant blabbering, Lovino thought back to the few times he had seen his brother…and the emotionless potato that he called the 'love of his life, besides pasta, Lovi!'

Ludwig was pretty much the opposite of Feliciano. Whereas the young Italian was constantly exuberating some emotion, mostly simple-minded happiness or another; Ludwig was usually stern-faced or had a calm façade that had Lovino questioning if the German was actually a militant spy. Whereas Feliciano stuffed himself silly, and then proceeded to pass out wherever was immediately comfortable (often times, the floor, if no one stopped him) ; half the time, Lovino wondered if Ludwig was ever eating enough. But the German would always pass up on the offering of more food, asking if Feliciano wanted more, which surprised Lovino on more than one occasion.

Ludwig and Feliciano were nearly complete opposites, from their hair and to eye color to their personalities, but they still loved each other so simply and yet so faithfully, it was as if their love was meant to be. Maybe it was, no wait, Lovino thought, it had to be meant to be, no one can stand Feliciano for this long. He thought this as he saw the old lady inching ever so slightly away from Feliciano's ever-running mouth. She looked one more grey hair of being terrified.

"Feliciano," Lovino said, as he took the other by the shoulder and all but yanked the smaller away from the old woman. The elder looked grateful, as she tried to hide her embarrassment in her book. Lovino caught the title_: 50 Shades of Grey_. And nearly choked on his own spit. Maybe he should have let Feliciano talk her to death.

"Aw, fratello, what's wrong?" Feliciano asked, turning around so that Lovino would release his shoulder. "Is something wrong?" Something in Feliciano made his eyes open a bit more, and Lovino could see clear concern. He immediately, almost too quickly, brushed off the concern with a wave of his hand.

"I'm fine, it's just –" He began to say, when an image of Antonio came to mind. The Spaniard was on the ground, every part of him dirty from the soil around him, and he was laughing as he fed Toby a tomato he had picked. The turtle eagerly ate at it.

"Fratello -?" Feliciano questioned again, while Lovino spaced out. The younger snapped his fingers, and then Lovino blurted, before he had even realized what he was saying, "How do you get on without Ludwig?"

The first thing Lovino regretted was admitting weakness, especially to his brother, who talked. Secondly, he regretted comparing himself to Feliciano. Third, he regretted how easily Feliciano smiled, as if it was the natural thing in the world, whereas Lovino had only recently gotten used to smiling genuinely more than he had for a long time.

But what Lovino didn't regret was asking the one person he knew that he could always ask something like this from. Because when Feliciano answered, Lovino felt the feeling in his chest. The warmth that reminded him of home.

Feliciano said, "Because I know that even if I leave, when I come back, he'll be right where I had left him…As if I had never been gone to begin with."

**It was all the reassurance that Lovino needed.**

**[ANTONIO]**

Looking about the kitchen, with a checklist in hand, reading aloud of the many chores that Lovino had oh-so lovingly texted him the moment that he had gotten a chance to, without the 'bitchy flight attendant going off on him again'.

"Alright, Toby," Antonio began, "A healthy and organic garden salad for his first meal, with the red-labeled spring water, not the blue one. Go easy on the carrots and be sure to cut the tomatoes into squares, it makes chewing easier." The Spaniard scanned the room for said turtle, and found the reptile eating at the table.

The slow crunching of fresh lettuce sounded around the room as the turtle chewed and silently enjoyed its breakfast. Antonio checked the bowl to be sure that he had abided by Lovino's rules. The lettuce was fresh and healthy, straight from the garden. There were enough carrots, not too much, just right; the tomatoes were correctly cut, though Toby was choosing to eat the tomatoes for last, as per the turtle's usual routine. The water cup was right beside a red-labeled bottle, broadcasting to the world that it was authentic Icelandic imported spring water.

Antonio checked the first thing off his list. He moved on to the second bullet. He said, "Second item: Put Toby outside for sun-bathing, and tend to garden." Nodding, the Spaniard looked back to Toby. The turtle was now nibbling on the second half leaf of his first lettuce by now. He still had time to eat himself, so without much thought; Antonio made himself a salad and happily chatted with his pet/child as he ate.

While Antonio waited on Toby to finish breakfast, he cleaned some dishes. When he was done washing dishes, he marked that off his list. Toby still hadn't finished. Antonio set out to do other chores. He vacuumed, and swept the kitchen floor; he rearranged pasta boxes, and washed the laundry. By the time that the laundry was about to go in the dryer, Toby pushed his empty bowl away and began to lap at his water cup.

Antonio beamed at the turtle, to which Toby only flatly regarded his presence, before tapping on the turtle so that he could put down. The parent in the room gladly picked him up and eased him outside to wallow in the early afternoon sun. While the turtle enjoyed the warmth and tried to chase after butterflies, Antonio tended to the garden, whistling as he did so.

Within an hour and a half, Toby was in a siesta, content in the shade of a nearby tomato plant large enough to shield him completely. Antonio was wiping some sweat from his forehead, sitting back on his knees to look over his work, proudly. He stood to check on Toby, and then picked him up, avoided a bite from said turtle at being disturbed, and then went inside. He was just putting down the turtle in his own bed, when the doorbell rang.

"Hm?" Antonio mused to himself, as he left the door at a crack. He was going down the stairs, when it rang again, and he called out, "I'm coming, hold on un minuto!" The doorbell didn't ring again, so the Spaniard assumed that the interested guests had heard him. He was smiling as the door opened, at first being greeted by his blonde friend, Francis.

"Mi amigo," Antonio began, about to open the door wider, "I haven't seen you in forever! Comó estas…?" The words felt like stones being dropped from his mouth, as he saw a face that he could have gone without seeing for a little while longer. It was Arthur.

It was almost scary to see the Spaniard's face darken, with some emotion that he was hardly familiar with how quickly that Antonio tried to shut the door. But luckily for all, Francis was just a bit faster, having planned the reaction, as he took to the door and tried to keep it from closing. But he had made a bit of an error; Antonio was stronger than he looked, and it was showing now, as the Spaniard continued to try and push the door closed. The Frenchman tried to make up for his error, by talking. Antonio tended to be influenced by words, if he was in a dark enough of mood, like now, to be pulled out of it. Acting against his temper with more force often led to bruising. Painful bruising. Painful, long-lasting, and very much visible bruising. Antonio may look like a softie, but the young man could pack a punch.

"Mon ami," Francis began, "Listen to moi. I know about Arthur, remember? _You _told _me_. Do you remember that? You did. I am trying to help."

"Not interested," Antonio grit out, and pushed on the door a little harder. Francis tried to keep it open, even going so far as look at Arthur, before pushing back. His shoulders were going to pay for this in the morning, but he shifted to get a bit more force behind him. He pushed the door back open a little more.

"I think you're lying to yourself, Toni," Francis said, trying to remain calm, though his patience was growing thinner by the moment. "You need this more than you say. But at least, listen to me: Arthur isn't looking for a second round with you. He just wants to talk to you, he's moving across the _world_, Antonio. Let him get this off his chest."

"No," Antonio growled, glaring out the door to the other green-eyed person outside it. "No queiro. You should understand me better than to do this, Francis. You should better than to bring him here. On my doorstep. On my property. Within my reach. Leave, now."

"Non," Francis said tightly, patience wearing out quicker as his shoulder began to throb. This was beginning to get more difficult than he had thought. Even with Arthur pushing on the door as well, they were barely keeping it open. As much as Francis loved his dearest Spanish friend and claimed brother, he was getting very annoyed with him very quickly. "Antonio, if you have to listen to a single word that I have to say now; listen to this: I know _he_ hurt you. I know _you_ hurt him."

Francis was getting angry. No, he wasn't getting angry. He was getting pissed off. This shouldn't be so difficult. Why was Antonio being a child? There was no need for such. The Frenchman continued on, "But he's been trying to reach out to you for _years_, now. Open this door, before I shove a foot up your ass, and make you listen. I kept him away from you, after you told me about him, but enough is enough. _Get off of the fucking door!_"

Antonio got off the fucking door. He immediately dropped back, not as if in realization, but just so when the door opened, Francis and Arthur would fall on the floor. The Spaniard had taken a few steps back, clenching his fists at his sides. He looked upstairs, face still dark but with a small tingle of concern. No, toby hadn't woken up yet. Good. He turned back to the guests that were now brushing the dirt from their persons. "You've got five minutes, before I throw you both out."

The way that Antonio had said it made chills go up Francis' spine, but he held tall and strong. Arthur put on a front, crossing his arms and scoffing, but the Brit would meet the Spaniard's eyes. Antonio was looking over everyone's head, taking advantage in being an inch or so taller than the majority in the room.

Francis sighed, running a hand through his hair, and then decided to be the adult and begin. "Look, Toni," he said, trying to go back to his earlier calm though his shoulder was hurting like a bitch. "I'm not asking you to forgive him for everything he's done. I'm not asking you for you to forget what had gone on between the two of you, however: I will demand that you both, at least, stop acting like squabbling children, and move on with your lives."

Both Antonio and Arthur looked up at that, to glare at Francis. Neither took very much liking to being compared to children. But in the Frenchman's eyes, that was how he saw them acting. He continued on, with their full attention, more or less, "At least, drop the animosity and angst between the two of you. You're both grown now, both of you have prospective futures ahead of you, and a wonderful present in front of you."

Arthur was rubbing his wrists, and Antonio took to twirling a lock of hair behind his ear. Neither would meet the other's green eyes, but didn't bother to say anything against Francis' words. They didn't stop him, as he continued, "Don't you see how petty this long-standing hatred between the two of you is? Please, merci, let's just ease it off your shoulders, if only to get a better night's sleep, alright?"

Antonio was about to say something, make up an excuse to go hide in the kitchen, until he could catch his breath, but Arthur stopped him, and then began apologizing. The Brit was all but running his words together, shocking everyone, "I-I-! Fine, damn it, I'm sorry! There I said it, I'm sorry! I ruined your life! I made your life Hell, because I answered your phone! I ultimately scarred you forever! I fucked up, alright? You have every right to be angry at me, but please, if only for the sake of what heart you have left, at least talk to me! Look me in my eyes!"

The Brit's sudden exclamation had stunned Antonio, but it wasn't enough for the shorter blonde to be satisfied. He continued, "You won't even look me in the eyes, anymore. You used to call them pretty, now you act as if you don't even notice me here. Please, Antonio, I need this. Just, at least, consider it. I don't want you to hate me forever."

Antonio paused. On one hand, Francis was right. Arthur was miserable. But on the other hand, there was still his memories mocking the Brit's words, trying to poke at what could be empty words. Poking and poking, until a lie could be formed. Before one could surface in the Spaniard's mind, however and remembering Lovino, remembering Selina and then, the bright face of his little daughter, Isabella. Was he really still mad at Arthur, if he had all of these precious things to cherish? Or was he only mad at Arthur for something as a scrap goat.

Antonio licked his lips, raised his head and said nothing. He stayed that way for a long time, until finally; _finally_, he came back down and sighed. He began slowly, his Spanish accent leaving more as more of his words came through. He could do this. "Ah," he started, and swallowed to ease his dry throat, "…Si. Lo siento, mi...Amigo?"

Arthur seemed to smile a bit at the mention of being friends again, although the word still left a bit of a sour taste in Antonio's mouth. But he could get past it. He could get past this, all of it, for his family. The one thing that he would never intentionally destroy or throw away for anything in the world; Antonio continued, "I'm sorry, too, but… I did hurt you too. I brought it on myself, and then chose you as a scrape goat, because you put it in my face that it was wrong. I-I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for ignoring you, for hating you, for – for pretending you didn't exist when all you wanted was for me to listen."

Even when Arthur tried to say something, Antonio stopped him. He wasn't finished. The Spaniard had to say this, so he did, "You didn't know who would pick up or what they would say, when you answered my phone, and though I regret things had to end that way, I'm happy with my life now. I'm happy with mi tomate, Lovino."

At the mention of that name, Arthur's eyes widened, but he kept quiet, as the Spaniard continued, as if he hadn't even noticed the expression. "And the beautiful woman who still loves me and raises my daughter," Antonio finished.

Arthur blinked, a bit taken aback. "You had a… a girl?" He paused, but after a quick moment, he dared to ask her name. Antonio smiled, "Isabella Sofia Sandoval-Carriedo." Arthur blinked, and then nodded and smiled silently, as the Spaniard continued, "Si, she's my pride and joy. She met Lovi, but she doesn't know. Selina knows, but she cares enough to at least accept it and be happy for me."

Arthur didn't hesitate to say, "I-I'm…happy for you, Antonio."

Antonio nodded, and then went on to say, "Me too, and for your information: You didn't ruin my life. You just showed how much was wrong with it. Thank you, gracias, for that. I don't think I'd be half as happy with my life, if you hadn't done that…"

The Spaniard went sheepish, scratching his head, and trying to grin. Arthur raised a brow, and Francis began to laugh, he knew what was coming and it was well worth the pain in his body to be there to hear it. Antonio said, "Granted, I fucked up too, but my mistakes led me here, so I'm good!"

Everyone was smiling, the tension was gone for the most part, after Antonio's little jest, and then Francis decided to pop the bubble. "Alright then, now that everybody has forgiven and is happy and all that: How about a threesome?"

Arthur, once more, didn't hesitate to ask, "Permission to run him off your property?"

Antonio smiled darkly, as he answered, chuckling as he did so, "Permission granted, si. I will sic Toby on him." Francis paled, and began to back up, trying to laugh and plead it off as a joke. But the other green-eyed males were closing in, laughing darkly.

As the pair chased Francis around the yard, before finally pouncing on him and ruining his hair style, that the beaten blonde complained took him an hour to do in the mirror and more mousse and bobby pins than he thought he could afford. But a moment after, they were all laughing. Simply laughing, the tension simply seemed to evaporate, and before long, Antonio was offering them cold water to drink inside.

It felt nice. It was nice to have all that off his chest, Antonio realized. And he smiled.

**Even the one he had cursed and blamed hadn't left him behind.**

OMIGOD. HAPPY ENDING. But the world isn't ending, just yet. I still need to put up the epilogue.

Again, thank you all for still being here, I can't thank you enough for going through this whole story with me, even when it sucked ass and seemed terrible. Thank you and have a nice day/night!

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